2016

Ending his year as Mayor, Greg Lyman counts 24 meetings, 119 consent items, 14 public hearings and 30 policy matters, and recognizes two centenarians. Colleagues and residents thank the departing Friedman and Bridges; Friedman wants to keep working on a new library, renter protection and the city's response to legal marijuana, and Bridges estimates she asked about 2,000 questions over about 200 meetings. The MTC's 2015 award for the best all-around pavement management program is announced.

The City Clerk swears in Lyman, re-elected, and the new members Fadelli and Pardue-Okimoto, who turns 40 that day and calls it “the first day of a new challenge.” Fadelli names growth near BART and a new library as priorities. Abelson, chosen Mayor, proposes revisiting the planning documents together and recalls meeting her husband at a Free Speech Movement table in 1964; Quinto, Mayor Pro Tem, says of transit-oriented development and housing, “we're going to get it done.”

Mayor Lyman opens with a moment of silence for James Gilliland Jr., shot on 27 October, and the police chief warns of residents followed home from shopping and robbed. Lyman lists the measures the Council supported and makes the case for Measure B: funding first, then a site, with construction estimated at $10 million to $14 million. Supporters cite the pool built under budget, a library with eight computers for the city, and other bonds passed without sites; opponents cite too many ifs, redevelopment money spent elsewhere, the school district site and library hours.

Neighbors on Arlington ask the Council to stop the speed feedback signs in a safety project approved two weeks earlier; Lyman says the Brown Act keeps the Council from deliberating with them that night and offers to find staff to get back to them. One speaker says the Mayor talks down to the measure's opponents. The Council adopts the 2016 building codes and adjourns in Gilliland's memory.

The City Clerk announces City Hall as a regional early voting center from 31 October to 5 November. With about 17 requests to speak, the Mayor limits comment to two minutes. Supporters of Measure B, the library bond, cite years of needs assessments and surveys, the pool and City Hall built within budget, and space for children; opponents cite the county's 35-hour week, the lack of a site, two sales tax increases and the same consultant working for the city and the yes campaign. Others ask for a caretaker in the vacant Dorothy Rosenberg park house and, after the El Dorado condo approval, for inclusionary housing and just cause eviction ordinances.

Paul Keith is appointed permanent police chief. Recreation Director Chris Jones reports a budget of about $5 million with revenues of $3.5 million, and 90,000 receipts so far this year, including 35,000 lap swims and nearly 12,000 senior lunches; staff describe ten clubhouses, most built with a 1965 bond, and crowded, aging buildings, and the Council proclaims Unity Day against bullying. Crime Prevention Committee chair Nicholas Arzio reports its work, about a year behind its plan.

For the Arlington Boulevard and Brewster Drive safety project, largely funded by a federal grant applied for in 2012, neighbors say they were not consulted on the speed feedback signs and rumble strips and ask for two weeks; the Council awards the contract unanimously with direction to meet with them and a larger contingency. It introduces the 2016 building codes, and on the request of the school district's new superintendent, Matt Duffy, endorses Proposition 55.

The recording begins at item two. The interim police chief reports about 75 people at a public meeting on marijuana regulations. Public comment, cut to two minutes for 17 speakers, brings thanks for the campaign that kept All Star Donuts at El Cerrito Plaza and arguments for and against Measure B, the library bond, including objections to the yes campaign's ballot rebuttal and to a city FAQ that does not call B a tax; the Mayor answers that supporters of a safe modern library “should be voting yes on measure b.” Relay for Life thanks the city for in-kind support, five EC STARS interns describe their summers in city offices, and BART directors Zakhary Mallett and Rebecca Saltzman present the $3.5 billion bond, saying fares cover most operating costs but not reinvestment in the aging system.

The El Dorado townhomes return from July with two accessible one-bedroom units, accessory studios and chair-lift-ready stairs; the developer calls the result “affordable by design,” and estimates the townhomes at $700,000 to $800,000. Howdy Goudey and others urge rejection over the displacement of low-income renters and disabled seniors, and a speaker says 39 people had lived on the site; former councilmember Rebecca Benassini and an affordable housing worker support it. The city attorney says the condo conversion ordinance does not apply to an RV park.

Bridges and Quinto support the project. Friedman says the “affordability plan is really no affordability,” and that without rent control, just cause eviction or inclusionary housing, approval would make the Council party to the displacement. Lyman, brokenhearted over the displacement, calls on staff to bring an inclusionary housing ordinance immediately and adds a condition that no more than five of the 26 units without accessory units be rented at one time. The map is approved 4–1, and the consent calendar, a fall prevention proclamation and weed abatement liens pass unanimously.

On the eve of the city's 99th birthday, the Council inducts Dave Weinstein into the Wall of Fame for the Cerrito Theater, the trails and the Madera open space; he says he does it not to give back but because it is his town. The Trail Trekkers present $2,186 for the open space and report a PG&E trail easement in the works. The Arts and Culture Commission introduces the city's new poet laureate, who reads a poem.

Two nurses warn that closing Alta Bates would leave the I-80 corridor without its nearest full-service hospital, and the Council adopts a resolution opposing Sutter's plan. It approves a memorandum of understanding with BART to study transit-oriented development at the Plaza station, with or without a library, and adjourns in memory of Lucy Wilson and Pat Jones.

With Bridges absent, the Mayor notes a PG&E rate case notice that, with the city now in MCE, no longer affects it. Al Miller, president of the Library Foundation, and Tom Panis support the library bond ordinance, and the Council adopts it on consent at second reading, 4–0, along with two quarterly investment reports. The Mayor invites interest in a mayors' conference seat on the Contra Costa Family Justice Alliance, and the Council adjourns to go back to National Night Out.

The Mayor opens with a moment of silence for those killed in the previous two weeks. Manor Circle and Elm Street neighbors appeal the Planning Commission's approval of Summit K2's expansion at 1800 Elm Street; their attorney, Al Moore, asks for a continuance because key documents appeared only in supplemental communications, and neighbors cite traffic counts, parking, noise and objects thrown over the fence. The owners say the campus has room for 600 and offer $100,000 for landscaping and $100,000 over five years for neighbor concerns. Of 33 speakers, neighbors are divided and parents and students support the school. With Friedman recused, the Council certifies the subsequent EIR and approves the use permit 4–0, adding conditions on transit passes, an accessible Elm Street sidewalk, quarterly neighbor meetings and operator-funded policing.

After midnight comes the El Dorado townhomes tentative map: 27 three- and four-bedroom homes on parcels holding an RV park whose residents were displaced. Howdy Goudey, citing a petition of over 500 signatures, says the city would lose some of its most affordable unsubsidized rentals and argues the condominium conversion ordinance should apply; the developer's attorney offers an elevator. Friedman supports development but cannot support a project that displaces low- and moderate-income residents and erodes the city's diversity, Bridges calls the lack of accessible living space a huge oversight, Quinto echoes them, and the Council continues the item to 20 September for an accessibility plan and more diverse, affordable housing.

At 1:35 a.m. the Council adopts the resolution and introduces the ordinance for a $30 million, 33-year library bond, about $31 per $100,000 of assessed value; the city manager reports the school district has refused the preferred Portola lower field. Nicholas Arzio calls the measure rushed, while Library Foundation speakers call the planned library adequate, not gold-plated. Earlier, Holliday Development and BRIDGE Housing are chosen to negotiate for the Mayfair block and 24 properties are declared weed nuisances.

With Bridges absent, Friedman leads a study session on three questions: whether to consider lifting the ban, whether to develop an ordinance, and whether to process an application from the El Cerrito Wellness Center, run by San Leandro's Davis Street Family Resource Center. The group proposes a clinical dispensary at the vacant former Taco Bell on San Pablo Avenue, with “no big pot leaves” on the building, a community advisory board for its funds, a 9% gross receipts fee against 5% in Oakland and Richmond and 2.5% in Berkeley, and an offer to pay for processing. The police chief compares dispensaries to other high-cash sites such as banks, and a councilmember doubts the site could handle the visits the market figures imply.

Of eleven speakers, patients and the site's broker support the group, while others object to a draft ordinance written for one operator, a rival operator seeks consideration, and a speaker charges “they're buying their way in”; Paul Fadelli notes the site is the city's northern gateway. Friedman says “We did not go looking for a provider they came to us”. The Mayor will not support an ordinance aimed at one parcel and one operator, and Abelson objects to the timing and to making money from medicine. The consensus: consider lifting the ban and develop an ordinance, with staff to report a calendar and cost on 14 June; the city manager calls a permit by 1 September a long shot that “might not be impossible”, and the specific proposal is called premature.

The Council adopts a 3% increase in most fees, the $72 landscape and lighting assessment, unchanged since 1998, and the storm drain report, and, marking Scott Hanin's 15 years, amends the city manager's agreement, cutting his car allowance and raising his pay to the median of reference cities. Loving Day and a thousand signs against hate are announced, and liaison reports cover a transportation sales tax measure and Port Chicago.

The recording begins during public comment. Two tenants of one complex, facing 20% rent increases two years running, ask the Council to consider rent regulation; one, a resident for over 30 years, says that with the minimum wage rising but rents up 20%, “it doesn't make sense”, and another suggests limiting increases to perhaps three to five percent a year. For State Senator Hancock, an aide asks the city to oppose shipping Utah coal through the former Oakland Army Base, and the Council does, 5–0. The mid-year update projects $1.7 million more revenue, including a one-time Recycle More distribution, lifting reserves from 6% to about 9%, and the amendments pass 5–0.

Community Development Director Melanie Mintz and Management Partners present the 2016 update of the 2006 economic development action plan: four goals carry over and financial sustainability is added, with a fee study, small business assistance and an affordable housing strategy among them. Mintz says the specific plan's form-based code has helped reluctant owners begin to sell and that developers give it “constant accolades”; the adviser says that since losing redevelopment the city has been “shoestringing it”. Sewer capacity studies required by the Stege Sanitary District, perhaps $10,000 to $20,000 for each project, are flagged as a costly obstacle that a master plan could replace with an impact fee.

The Council adopts the plan unanimously and approves refunding redevelopment bonds to save about $83,000. In liaison reports the Mayor describes a mayors' workshop on a possible ABAG–MTC merger, MCE's growth, and the waste authority's review of powers it has never used.

With Quinto and Abelson absent, the Mayor condemns an alleged race-based hate crime against a family on Arlington Boulevard, and the police ask residents for surveillance footage; a lifelong resident tells the family “a crime like this is a crime against everybody”, and the NAACP and the Crime Prevention Committee promote neighborhood watch. Chief Moyer, leaving for Tempe after more than five and a half years, says Scott Hanin made “a very courageous move” in hiring her in July 2010, and Captain Paul Keith becomes interim chief. The Environmental Quality Committee presents its work plan, and the consent calendar adopts resolutions on seed saving and opposing Islamophobia.

Group 4 and Swinerton find the 1960 library, at about 6,500 square feet, far short of the 21,000 square feet a 2014 needs assessment recommended, and compare four options: a library on the former Portola lower field alone (1a) or with a community center (1b), a library rebuilt with the civic theater, and two San Pablo Avenue sites that would have to be bought, one with housing above. The team recommends 1b as the best value within a $30 million window; Hanin says staying near that figure matters with about 71% support against a two-thirds threshold, and that 1b would let the library and senior center land go to Fairmont School.

Most speakers back 1b, though Fairmont parents worry about construction beside the school and say they were not consulted. Bridges sees a land swap and community space, “not about books and shelves”, and Friedman would prefer a San Pablo site in an ideal world but backs 1b as faster. The Mayor, weighing cost, safety and flexibility over 50 years, supports 1b; the three councilmembers select the site 3–0 and approve $96,000 for outreach, a Godbe Research survey and mailers toward a possible library measure.

Returning to topics set aside when the minimum wage passed, staff describe state paid sick leave and a proposed hospitality service charge rule. A resident urges sick days now, the California Restaurant Association asks the city to wait, and a business owner calls the Council anti-business. The Council waits on the state ballot measures and approves $20,000 to implement the minimum wage.

Contra Costa College's interim president describes its students and the Measure A buildings opening that fall. Neighbors of the new Korematsu Middle School support its parking revisions but brace for 600 students, a Fairmont parent asks for help getting that school rebuilt, the Rotary gives the Library Foundation $15,000, and Detective Aaron Leon is named officer of the year.

Mayor Pro Tem Abelson presides. The development services manager asks for a final extension of the massage establishment moratorium, to February 2017, to align the city's rules with the state's 2015 regulation, and the Council adopts the urgency ordinance unanimously. It creates a centennial celebration planning task force and names the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem to it.

Two residents ask that a four-wheel-drive SUV for building inspection be pulled from consent in favor of used electric vehicles, but the consent calendar passes intact. A councilmember marks the opening of Fred Korematsu Middle School, and the city manager and Tom Panis note Chief Sylvia Moyer's coming move to Tempe.

An ABAG regional planner explains the Plan Bay Area 2040 update: priority development and conservation areas, no new housing allocation this cycle, and three growth scenarios to be refined by spring. Abelson asks whether willing cities like El Cerrito will get the growth they want, Friedman what help ABAG offers, Bridges how BART and I-80 can carry more people, and the Mayor how the region will balance cities' differing wishes.

On consent the Council gives second reading to the ordinance on marijuana cultivation and deliveries and awards the Huber Park project; as successor agency it submits its 2016–17 payment schedule, adding reimbursement for streetscape work. The Mayor reports PG&E delaying the Chevron solar project, and the King celebration is praised.