City Council Meeting April 2, 2013

0:00:22good evening everyone I'm going to call this meeting uh the regular city council meeting of April 2nd to order um let the records show that all five council members are present and ready to do business yes thank you um with that I would like to ask council member benicini to lead us in the Pledge

0:00:44of Allegiance please enjoy a moment of silence or join in the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice wrong thank you that'll bring us to item three

0:01:09oral Communications from the public we do have a three-minute limit on comments from the public on items that are either on the consent calendar or new items oh item two sorry my bad item two we'll do item two first um Council staff Communications which I have a few so I don't know why I

0:01:32overlooked that council member Abelson since you reminded me would you like to go first okay [Laughter] I have a few too I don't know if I'll do them all today well I want to start out with the one that was the most interesting and that I was asked to represent the league of California

0:01:48cities uh today at a meeting that was held in Sacramento at the U.S department of Agriculture excuse me of not really it says USDA I think that is what it that is U.S department of Agriculture but I think it was actually the U.S this is what that is what this says so I

0:02:13guess it was you U.S department of Agriculture and the um California Department of Education in Sacramento and they had a meeting and it was on School summer feeding programs for low-income students and um so I was sort of me and then all these people who were in the um

0:02:41uh nutritional area and um related in some way to schools so it was really an interesting meeting um and I felt you know kind of all alone defending us or presenting our point of view and um in fact there were some things that I was able to contribute um about the programs that we run in the

0:03:04summer and so they were what their issue was was that um in many cases there the schools no longer have summer school which was the logical place where they could do this summer free lunch program and um what I kept remembering and not really knowing too much about about what we do

0:03:25in this city was uh currently is that we have all the kids in the summer in our programs and it sort of seemed like a pretty good fit to me if it in fact was the same group of kids which I don't really know but this program was a state level program not a city of El Cerrito

0:03:42program so um there's going to be some follow-up to that and I'll just wait and see what that is so that's uh one item the next item would be Earth Day I just want to let people know once again that Earth Day in El Cerrito will be excuse me will be celebrated on April

0:04:04the 20th in the morning and if you would like to sign up for a work party you can do so on our website um and I would encourage you all to do that and then it's followed at noon time by a free meal at the community center so I do hope you'll all sign up um then I wanted to make an announcement

0:04:30about a couple of meetings that are going to be held um and one of them is um has to do with the or they both have to do with the Bay Area plan it's called the one Bay Area and there will be public hearings throughout the nine Bay Area Counties on the plan which is the climate

0:05:01action plan for um transportation and and land use for the Bay Area you might say it's kind of like that and it's a result of some legislation ab32 and SB 375 technically but anyway the um uh the plan itself there will be a hearing in Contra Costa on um April 17th

0:05:35at the Contra Costa Transportation Authority at 299 Oak in Walnut Creek that's where the Transportation Authority meets and it will be at six o'clock and so if you have any comments about it you're welcome to come there if you look on the Metropolitan Transportation commission's website

0:05:58you'll be able to find the plan itself in addition there will be a hearing and let me see if I can find that it'll also be a hearing on the eir and um I'm having trouble finding that state that this is it sorry you can't find that piece of paper right now anyway there will be a hearing and

0:06:29if you look on the MTC website you'll be able to find out where the hearing for the um eir for that plan is and that will be a different hearing and it will also be held in Walnut Creek but it will be at the Marriott Hotel and I believe that is that thank you thank you councilmember

0:06:54Bridges councilmember Freeman councilmember benesee all right sorry I'm going to start along with first I want to start out by acknowledging that we had there was a neighborhood watch meeting that was held this last weekend the crime prevention committee uh sponsored at this meeting

0:07:14at the canyon trail it was pretty well attended it was nice to be there but it reminds me that we do our very supportive of our neighborhood watch program and also take the opportunity to remind everyone that National Night Out will be Tuesday August 6th this year so

0:07:34hopefully you can mark your calendars for that um another future event that's coming up on the short Horizon is the recycle more which is the West County Waste Management Authority will be hearing um I'm anticipating that we'll be hearing the final environmental impact

0:07:51report for the plastic bag ban on April 11th so next Thursday so that's in our Horizon and I know we're starting Outreach to businesses to inform them of the changes um the city of El Cerrito on our website does have information about small business workshops so if you Google up

0:08:14small business workshops you'll find out about the uh the training that we're providing I know there was one today on social media and email meetings but there will be also meetings on the 24th of April the 9th of May and the 23rd of May so all you have to do is type in

0:08:32small business into our search site entrepreneur training we are also providing entrepreneur training this is a multi-week class started yesterday or sorry April 9th is the first one for small business I'm a week ahead already um the 10-week class in small business

0:08:51uh entrepreneur training started yesterday and it is here at City Hall 9 A.M to noon Mondays and Wednesdays and you can contact Dwayne Dalman here at City Hall to consider enrolling in that um we did get or at least I was informed of opportunities for people to enroll as

0:09:14a county of Contra Costa civil grand jury members if you feel that you would like to volunteer in a larger venue on behalf of El Cerrito and the county you can contact grand jury secretary Teresa Ramos and her telephone is 925-957-5638 [Music] um April 20th is a the Saturday April 20th 11 to 2 at

0:09:54the craneway conference center in Richmond is a luncheon for the Ed fund you can uh visit their website at and I didn't make this up www.tinyurl.com edfund2013 and they're going to be honoring several of West Contra Costa unified school district teachers 45 dollars for the luncheon it's a good

0:10:23cause um free lunch in El Cerrito at the same time on the same day yes exactly exactly the same time uh and it was brought to our attention at our last meeting and I just want to reiterate it because it is June 14th not too far into the future seven o'clock on June 14th at the El

0:10:42Cerrito Library we will be celebrating the El Cerrito Library 100th birthday and that concludes my items for item two is there any staff with that now I will move on to agenda item three um oral Communications from the public this is on a consent calendar items or

0:11:02items that are not on our agenda we do limit to three minutes a piece and there is a visual aid to help you remember our three-minute time limit there are new speakers this evening we have three speakers for General comment Todd Groves foreign good evening mayor good evening mayor

0:11:33hello can you hear me yes hello Council good evening my name is Todd Groves I live at [address removed] in El Cerrito I'm also on the West County School Board and I'm here to give you an update on a few mentions of note for El Cerrito this past week we had uh meeting regarding a

0:11:53special meeting regarding Portland Middle School I saw council member vanessini there it was fantastic to see some representation from the council uh we are rebuilding Portland Middle School the bid is out it will be approved at our next board meeting uh it's it's it

0:12:07we should be breaking ground sometime in May uh let's we are also reconsidering uh what we do with uh with our program with our academic programming at Portland Middle School to engage all Learners we had a robust discussion with the public and parents on that at the

0:12:23special meeting we've got some exciting Innovation coming our way there's also I wanted to let you know about the West County strategic plan the Strategic plan will be coming to a city near you it will be coming to El Cerrito High at the end of May we'll have a town

0:12:38hall available to all interested parties to come and tell us what they think about our school district what they'd like to see change in our school district and how we can improve relations with the town of El Cerrito thanks thank you next speaker please Nicholas arzio who

0:12:57also has a written Communications for you good evening I'm here to discuss the placement of two parking stalls near the corner of Fairmount and Kearney the city added these two spots about a year ago the they removed 34 feet of red curb to create two 17-foot parallel

0:13:22parking spots I ask that the city reconsidered the placement of these spots because I believe they're too short only 17 feet in length whereas many standard sized vehicles are longer than 17 feet and can't fit into that area um also the front parking stall is the the

0:13:41borders extend to within two feet of a handicap excuse me a disabled access ramp for the crosswalk at Kearney and Paramount and I believe that the City generally likes to have at least three feet of red curb uh separating every parking area from handicapped access ramps

0:14:06I think that's thank you very much for submitting the information and we will take a look into it is there any specific action you would like to recommend at this time either either designate the spots as compact Spartan parking spaces as most cities would there are no on-street

0:14:21parking regulations in El Cerrito but many other municipalities would designate the spot as compact only and you may you may want to revisit the idea of maybe extending the the red zone to three feet to create a safer access for people who were using the crosswalk

0:14:43I'm going to mispronounce it rzo yes thank you very much for coming tonight you're welcome thank you Al Miller Al Miller [address removed] here in El Cerrito good evening mayor Lyman council members uh leaders of political campaigns will tell you you much touched your voters

0:15:07five times before you make an impression on them and they'll remember you well twice before I've been here advertising the Steve sanitary District's 100th anniversary celebration at our district office on 7500 Schmidt Lane right across from our award-winning Recycling and environmental Learning

0:15:29Center it will be Saturday May 18th and if I count the number of Council meetings properly I will have ample opportunities to have touched you five times now as elected officials you will be receiving written invitations as will Congressman Miller our state senator Lonnie Hancock and our

0:15:55assembly member Nancy Skinner and our state senators too pro forma but every member or everybody that lives in The Siege Sanitary District that's Kensington El Cerrito and the Richmond Annex is invited to come by from one to four we'll have all our equipment out

0:16:17there to show you how we maintain the sewers how we video and inspect them so we don't replace any sewer before it's time and to answer any questions that people might have about their relationship with their Sanitary District thank you very much great thank you

0:16:39with that we will move on to presentations we have one presentation scheduled for this evening from Planned Parenthood Health Center at El Cerrito a presentation by Miss Debbie bamberger thank you thank you for having me I'm Debbie bamberger I'm a nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood in El

0:16:57Cerrito Plaza and this is Chris Sorensen Chris Sorensen former board chair of Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific good evening um so we really came here to thank you and to give you some information about what Planned Parenthood does and the impact that we've had on the community

0:17:13so I'm I just prepared a very short presentation for you foreign so I start with this slide because there are a lot of misconceptions about what Planned Parenthood is go ahead other way thank you so what we do is we promote and protect Sexual Health reproductive

0:17:50freedom and social justice through Medical Services education and advocacy we opened our doors three years ago and I want to just turn it over to Chris for a moment to talk about the fact that it wasn't an easy road to open [Music] you you may have to turn it on actually

0:18:18there might be a button at the bottom okay perfect thank you I work at El Cerrito Plaza with the Glenn price group and we've been there since 2003 so on my lunch breaks I would walk around and I'd watch spaces open up and I watched the space open up and have a new tenant and open up and have

0:18:35another tenant finally called Regency and said we'd like to rent this for Planned Parenthood and got a lot of pushback so many of you got emails from me or Glenn or friends of us at Planned Parenthood about contacting Regency and we had a lot of community support for

0:18:55Planned Parenthood and Regency finally said okay stop stop sending us emails we'll talk to you so it took over four years but we have a beautiful Health Center and Debbie will continue to tell you about it thank you and thank you for all your support so Planned Parenthood El Cerrito is one

0:19:17of 21 health centers that are part of Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific and we reach all the way from San Francisco to reading so this chart tells you what we do as an affiliate and the client visits that we have and you can see that most of what we do is provide birth control

0:19:33and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections I want to just say here that only three percent of the patients we see in El Cerrito Plaza are 17 and younger so 97 of who we see are 18 and over I think there's a lot of misconception about that we're bringing

0:19:54all these young children into Planned Parenthood and that has not been the case in El Cerrito we have grown exponentially in the three years that we've been open that last our fiscal year goes from July to June I think yours does too and we've already by January of this year had already seen

0:20:126 000 visits just in the first half of this fiscal year so we're really growing and we are really bringing people into the plaza to take care of their health we attract patients from all over the East Bay um we had 7 000 patients come just from Berkeley Oakland and Albany into the

0:20:34plaza to come to Planned Parenthood and we hope and think that they're also spending money in the plaza when they're there to take care of their health needs so that's been sort of an added benefit and um so mainly what we do is to take care of people's Health provide preventive

0:20:55health services and help people make choices about their lives and we do that with your support I want to end with three quotes I highly recommend coming here I was well taken care of my nurse looked to me in the eye with such care and concern and without any judgment

0:21:13they answered all my questions and made me feel at ease the staff at the front are welcoming and friendly and are understanding and explain everything thoroughly to you so I would like to thank the city for supporting our being in El Cerrito Plaza thank you so much do you have any

0:21:31questions for either of us okay no questions thank you very much thank you with that we'll move on to adoption of the consent calendar item five I move adoption of items 5A through 5G my second all those in favor please say aye aye aye opposed of sentience please let the

0:22:04record show that the motion passed unanimously that will bring us to item six um this is a public hearing and an ordinance adoption and as such I will open the public hearing we'll have a staff presentation from Mr bonyo uh we'll have questions from the council

0:22:30will allow public testimony during the hearing and then we'll consider a motion to close the hearing and then uh have Council deliberations with that Paul would you like to start a presentation yes good evening mayor lineman and members of the council my name is noelie

0:22:48balio I am a senior planner with the planning division here just to give you a quick background of this project the city prepared a city-wide strategic plan which is uh on the agenda tonight it the plan is to provide the decision makers with the framework to link identified

0:23:15priorities to the Capital Improvements program the important policy considerations Economic Development and just overall to improve the city's quality and processing projects um in order to deepen the sense of place for uh for our community this the community has to identify

0:23:46um and promote um develop entertainment Recreation and leisure activities for the people um of all ages and demographics as part of this strategy um there's a desire for to create opportunities for these types of activities in and throughout the city so with that in the spirit of improving the

0:24:22strategies and streamline the process staff is proposing to amend the temporary use permit section of the zoning ordinance in essence the improvements is or the amendment is to allow city-sponsored activities throughout the city anywhere within the city and the second part is to

0:24:52provide such activities within a 12-month period with regards to the analysis city-sponsored events in the past have occurred on city parks and the city streets schools and so our code currently limits it to just City Hall so we're amending it to make it available throughout the

0:25:23city the second amendment allows for such events to occur within a 12-month period so uh the proposed text amendments will allow greater flexibility in these types of uses these amendments are in keeping with the overall Economic Development of the city and its City's vision

0:26:01and this will encourage hopefully such uses as street fairs and farmers markets and other outdoor activities staff has determined that such Zone tax amendments will not impact the environment pursuant to SQL therefore staff recommends that the Council approved the proposed

0:26:28zoning tax amendments and uh adoption of the proposed ordinance that concludes staff's presentation of the report and would gladly answer any questions good do we have any questions I have two this is an administrative permit so once this is passed it would be administrative

0:26:50there would be no discretionary action we do have the under uh the city under the City events this the zoning administrator has the ability to review it under under a temporary use permit so it is a it still is a discretionary process good thank you and under C2 where we changed it

0:27:18from 10 consecutive days or five two day weekends to up to 12 months I assume that that doesn't mean that they can do it continuously for 365 days oh great no thank you um welcome any public comments on this item I have no request to speak uh bring this back for discussion or a motion

0:27:42caring all those in favor of closing the public hearing the the record show that it was unanimous [Applause] with the record closed is there any question any further discussion comments or emotions I'll just make one comment this item was heard at the Planning Commission meeting at their last session

0:28:04and they discussed it for some time and made a lot of clarifications particularly with regard to the point you made which is can somebody propose an event to go on 365 days a year and uh staff clearly pointed out that this is something that would be reviewed when

0:28:21the application is put in and that uh at that time there would be discretion to limit the number of weekends or days or whatever is being proposed would go through staff and the planning Commissioners thought that you know with understanding this and understanding

0:28:36that all all the parties concerned could think could could have some input or rather visiting administrator would kind of serve the city's purposes um that they were very excited about the prospect for having uh potential events come and be able to plan for the whole

0:28:52year so overall once they had that concern met they were happy with the direction of this amendment councilmember Iverson um I'd be happy to make a motion um and I moved to approve by title and wave any further reading of an ordinance of the city of El Cerrito amending El

0:29:11Cerrito Municipal Code section 19.35.020 temporary uses to allow greater flexibility for entertainment recreational and Leisure venues particularly in the form of special events second we have a motion in a second all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed or abstentions none seeing

0:29:31let the records show that it passed unanimously uh that brings us on to item oh my items are out of order item seven a which is uh adoption of the city of El Cerrito strategic plan see Miss Ayala coming forward for a presentation thank you okay all right uh good evening mayor and city

0:30:21council my name is Karen Pinkus I'm the assistant city manager and I'd also like to introduce Suzanne airla who is our community outreach specialist we are very proud and excited to present to the city council to the citizens of El Cerrito the residents and businesses and

0:30:36staff are El Cerrito strategic plan this plan is a culmination of amazing participation from all of our residents businesses community members staff members and of course the city council to create what we feel is an excellent road map for El Cerrito's future okay

0:30:56so just we'll we'll give a little bit of a background to as to how we got here um the Strategic plan sets a Clear Vision for the organization establishes goals and strategies to move in that desired future Direction and in addition the plan articulates our values the

0:31:15organization's values and the behaviors that support them our plan will provide a straight A framework excuse me for linking our identified priorities to the budget process to our Capital Improvement program policy considerations Economic Development initiatives in the

0:31:32organization's desire for continuous Improvement it will also contain those goals and strategies that cover a multi-year span of time so it sets out at least five years into the future providing us with a road map to make Service delivery decisions to allocate resources and

0:31:48guide the organization into fulfilling the mission that the city has set so the main components of the Strategic plan are before you the vision sets the focus for the future it's the statement of where the organization is is going the mission is a statement of purpose

0:32:05for the organization and it defines what we stand for and what we'll do the values of an organization Drive the goals that are created and the process of implementing those goals it provides values provide the basis for how we as a city and all of our staff members work

0:32:23to achieve the mission and the vision articulated the goals set the framework that guide the direction and focus sets the budget decisions allocation of resources such as staff time they're the up on the balcony views of opportunities for Change and Improvement and what our

0:32:41desired future will be this ex that kind of provides the why which is sort of the larger meaning of what the specific actions that we will take and they also help us as an executive team decide which of those many projects and goals and strategies that we will have to do should be done

0:32:59and with what available resources and you know the goals that we set need to be meaningful and attainable of course obviously the strategies then are what are the means to achieve these goals they describe the approach or the method they answer the question how do we

0:33:18accomplish this goal so um they can be broad they can be specific but generally speaking um each objective will be assigned to a staff member to the individual with allocated resources and then incorporated into a work plan to implement the goals that are set and then

0:33:39um finally what isn't here um actually go back yeah what isn't on this on this particular chart but what is important to us particularly within the staff organization is from the Strategic plan we will be developing an implementation action plan and that is our blueprint for carrying out the

0:33:57Strategic plan and it'll cover the detailed steps that make sure that the goals and strategies are achieved and these action plan will provide the framework for determining things such as timelines assignments and resource allocations and you will see that further actually in the very near future

0:34:13when we start the budget process this is going to be a huge part of our budget process going forward which is exciting and so the mission statement which was adopted in 2011 you've all seen it I won't read it but this essentially is what the strategic planning process was

0:34:31was intended to build from this mission statement and I I believe it incorporates the sentiment that is outlined in this statement so at this time I'm going to turn it over to Suzanne and she's going to describe to you some of the background of how we got here the community

0:34:48outreach process and then go over and detail some of the goals and strategies Suzanne foreign can you turn your microphone on please now it's a brighter green thank you good evening mayor and council members my name is Suzanne erla and I'm the community outreach specialist for the

0:35:07city of El Cerrito and my role in the strategic planning process was to assist with the community outreach efforts and starting in the summer of 2012 we reached out to Residents and other stakeholders through meetings community events and an online survey at the

0:35:23Fourth of July Festival we had a booth that kind of kicked off this whole process and at that stage we were just asking for kind of conversation starters and developing our list we collected contact information of folks who are interested in keeping informed in the

0:35:37process during the summer months the our Consultants management Partners conducted one-on-one interviews with council members we held multiple focus groups with staff from all levels of the organization community members business owners we also held an open house event

0:35:56at City Hall in July and August over 130 people completed the online survey or provided written comments and 138 people attended a focus group meeting or the open house event at City Hall on September 22nd of 2012 the city council held a special study session it was a half day

0:36:18study session on a Saturday and at that Workshop the council learned more about the strategic planning process and also drafted the vision statement and values and Associated behaviors based on input that we had received from the community so far we continue to collect ideas from the

0:36:42community we also launched an online Forum called Community voice and then in January of this year the council held a second study session and at this study session staff presented um kind of an overview of the organization's strengths and weaknesses opportunities and threats and we looked

0:37:03at what the organization's internal strengths and weaknesses were now or might be in the future as well as both opportunities and threats that might face the city in the future the council at the January Workshop also identified six key goals and then developed strategies for each of those

0:37:24goals foreign Workshop in January staff and the Consultants went back with the direction provided by staff and developed the final draft strategic plan document that was distributed to the public on March 14th I will go over for you now the elements of the draft strategic plan I

0:37:48did want to point out you'll see a couple texts that was changed since that public review version the document in your packet on the screen tonight has some strikethrough text and some additional text that's in red and that was based on feedback that we received

0:38:05as well as review and I can go into more detail at the end of the summary um I won't read the draft vision statement it's before you tonight it's also in your packet the organizational values that were identified include ethics and integrity fiscal responsibility inclusiveness

0:38:30Innovation and creativity professional Excellence responsibility as well as transparency and open communication and each of these organizational values also have a list of behaviors associated with those in the document foreign the six key goals that the council

0:38:49developed we have listed them with letters just to help distinguish them but each of the goals are important they're not necessarily in any order but goal actually I'll go through the goals and the strategies together I also wanted to mention the illustrations you're seeing here and in

0:39:08your packet were developed by a graphic recorder at the January Workshop Leslie Sam and Jew developed these for the city and there's actually a poster in the room as well with them goal a is to deliver exemplary government services and the strategies identified include to

0:39:27um use more data-driven analysis promote employee development attract and retain a talented Workforce be inclusive of everyone in our community develop and strengthen relationships and maintain our emphasis on providing excellent customer service goal B is to achieve long-term Financial

0:39:49sustainability and the strategies include to maintain Financial discipline ensure that we're following the best practices in financial management attract retain and expand new businesses explore opportunities for new Partnerships and funding develop a plan to address ongoing

0:40:08maintenance needs of our facilities and infrastructure develop a plan that will help us implement the Strategic plan so we're calling that the implementation action plan that's the blueprint for how we take this Visionary document and carry it out as well as you know be sure to watch

0:40:29state and federal legislation for new opportunities goal C is to deepen a sense of place and Community identity and the strategies include to promote strong neighborhoods celebrate the community's diversity adopt an update a general plan encourage investment or new development

0:40:49and underutilized properties develop an economic development action plan review policies on historic preservation encourage alternate transportation and multimodal transportation ensure that our community has access to entertainment recreational leisure activities promote arts and culture

0:41:08celebrate the city's 100th anniversary in 2017 and be a strong partner with the schools goal D is to develop and rehabilitate public facilities as Community focal points so the strategies include developing a plan to address ongoing and deferred maintenance needs for our

0:41:29facilities and infrastructure continue our facility's assessment and prioritize and strategize investment and revise the structural Facilities Management plan goal e is to ensure the Public's health and safety there are a number of strategies related to crime prevention

0:41:47techniques as well as using data-driven analysis emphasis on making sure that the city is prepared to respond to a disaster or emergency situation working with our partners and exploring best practices for promoting Public Health goal F I'm sorry is to Foster environmental sustainability city-wide

0:42:11and strategies include being a leader in setting policies that promote environmental sustainability promote Environmental Education so that there are Behavior changes in the community Implement policies that promote waste diversion and implement the city's climate action plan once it's adopted

0:42:31before I turn it back over to Karen for next steps I did just want to give a little bit more information about the difference between the revised document you see and the um the document that was distributed to the public in mid-march for example I wanted to let you know that one of the

0:42:49staff Provisions was to strengthen the strategy about historic preservation this topic was brought to our attention by a number of community members as well as the Historical Society their comments are included either in your packet or some were handed out tonight

0:43:03the revised strategy was suggested by councilmember Friedman at the January 26 study session and staff felt that based on all of the input gathered during the process and our understanding of the council's discussion that this strategy reflected the council's desires however

0:43:18as part of your deliberation this evening you're being asked to assess if all of these elements that comprise the Strategic plan or what the city needs to be doing to realize the shared vision of el Cerrito's future likewise the um vision statement was not finalized by

0:43:34the entire Council in January so what you see before you tonight was actually developed by staff in the Consultants and I'll turn it back to care so so then went on okay so the next steps again as Suzanne uh Suzanne just said um we would ask you to consider if this

0:44:01if the elements that you see before you the vision the values and the goals and strategies do reflect your vision and the Community Vision that you have heard from um from residence businesses and everyone who participated in the plan um then we would ask you to consider

0:44:16adoption of the plan and then after that once it's adopted we will actually work with the Consultants to develop the implementation action plan which would identify the key tasks for the strategy including timelines resources required and success indicators and then from

0:44:32there we'll develop the framework to align those City programs and goals in the Strategic plan which will you'll see in detail on the budget process so I do want to take a moment to thank not only the city council but everyone involved I would like to point out Nancy hetrick is here

0:44:51from management Partners she's the consultant that we worked with who was great to work with thank you Nancy so much I do want to thank um all of our city staff particularly the executive team who did a lot of hard work um city manager Scott Hannan for his leadership

0:45:08um Suzanne particularly for all of your amazing work with the Outreach and helping develop the plan and of course the residents of businesses of El Cerrito and the city council for allowing for your enthusiasm everyone it was so great to work with it was just a

0:45:22wonderful process to be a part of visioning what we want El Cerrito to be in the future we're pretty good and I know we're going to be great so I just want to thank you all very much we're available for any questions that you have great thank you I'll start on my left

0:45:38council member bridges any questions council member I had one on the about forget what section it was in but he was in your PowerPoint uh it referred towards the end it referred to Transportation creating a sense of place that would be goal C strategies under goal C I think

0:46:02um encourage use it's the about the seventh bullet down to encourage use it says encourage use of alternative modes of transportation to connect people and create a sense of community um I I don't I I would suggest that creating a sense of community is not the most important reason or even the

0:46:31second most important reason um a more important reason would be the environment for example there are lots of reasons to have it but I wouldn't put by putting create a sense of community it makes it looks like there aren't those other reasons and and so that kind

0:46:50of concerns me and I'd kind of like to see that change just for that reason I think it does help to create a sense of community but I don't think that's that's what that's certainly not my main reason so is your question suggesting that this should be under goal F which

0:47:08is Foster environmental sustainability Citywide um yeah I mean yes I do think that's a true statement um so it could be here but I mean it needs to me the more important reason would be the uh environmental reason because half of our approximately half of our footprint is

0:47:38caused by transportation so it's a bit it's a very big deal and certainly this evening the council can modify any of these strategies or goals or elements but um maybe one suggestion is to to move this to the other goal but you could even the council could choose to amend it to say

0:48:00encourage useful alternative modes of transportation and then the strategy there or encourage use of alternative modes of transportation to connect people and uh reduce single occupancy vehicle miles traveled if if that got to where you wanted or to that would so you could amend this however the

0:48:22council wishes do you have any other questions we're just no that's it hello council member benicini thank you for the presentation Karen and Suzanne I feel as though many of the comments we've gotten have been positive and the ones that have been uh sort of asking

0:48:40for moral or are all asking what does this mean what are the actions we're going to take and I and I know that you know we're the description that Karen gave about the various levels that we're at um was really really helpful so I wanted you guys to have a couple or I wanted to

0:48:54question you a bit more on sort of the next steps and how we're going to take this to the implementation plan and then connect it back to the budget so if you could talk us through that a bit more and the thing I'm I'm really focusing on is we're going to have we have these

0:49:07strategies and then we're going to have actions and then we're going to have measures of success and then ultimately when it gets to the budget process we're then going to start prioritizing which of these actions do we want to take first um so could you kind of talk us through

0:49:19a little bit more of of the action plan and then how we're going to connect that to the budget and the timing of all of these things actually you described it quite well um we're actually in Nancy I don't know if you wanted to jump in to talk a little bit about your role and and where

0:49:36that comes but um our next steps again are to really lay out the actual um the actual the resources the success indicators and the the timelines for each of these strategies and again as it's a multi-year plan we're not going to fulfill all of these in the first year

0:49:54second you know we're going to have to try to on our side work that out look at all of these and then essentially um there will have there will be resources that we will have I mean every single one of these goals is in addition that's well I'm sorry let me take a step back

0:50:10there are the core services that we provide the essential services that we provide that all in some way or another fulfill these goals that we know they do or we want to make sure they do or we shouldn't be doing them so that's step one step two is any of the additional

0:50:24stuff that we've talked about some of some of this is is stuff we already do some of this is new all of these things have a price tag essentially and so our job is to make sure that we assess all of those things what we can do what we can't do and the resources

0:50:39available to do it and present that to you in a in a clear fashion when it comes to the budget process but also to you know when you talk about timelines see if we can figure out and allocate what those timelines might be what some of these are near-term goals some of these are

0:50:55longer term goals some of these we might be able to do next fiscal year some of these we might not be able to do depending on where we're at did you want to add anything Scott yes um actually you're going to get your chance at the next meeting um working backwards from what the way

0:51:13you described it um we were dedicating essentially the whole meeting to our first cut at tying the current sort of looking at the current Year's Baseline budget converting it from what it has been to how does it match the presumption that you would adopt the plan today we would take a first pass at

0:51:35allocating our resources to see how they currently are allocated versus what they would look like if we tried to spread them across the goals that you're considering tonight and then you would have your first opportunity to start talking about based on the resources we have

0:51:54and the resources particularly revenues were likely to have how are these goals funded or not funded and to start looking at as we put up start putting our budget together which we already are if if it's time to start making choices of what gets funded and what doesn't get

0:52:14funded next we're going to start that discussion at the next meeting I mean our intent is not to get to into every line item detail of the budget but from using the goals and strategies as a framework we want to start identifying what would adequate funding be what is

0:52:34the current funding and optimally what would the funding be or the funding shortfall be um we have a ton of work to do between now and two weeks but our hope is to really start framing that discussion and then that will help provide direction towards the draft budget book and then

0:52:52the budget sessions will all hopefully flow from tonight thank you that was helpful that's all I have for now great I have no questions do we I understand we have three uh Mark you already said you didn't have a question sorry um I understand we have three public

0:53:07speakers tonight we will be limiting those comments to three minutes a piece using the color-coded lights the at the diocese so would you call our first speaker please Tom panis good evening mayor Lyman members of the Council on City staff my name is Tom Patterson I live at [address removed] in El

0:53:40Cerrito I'd like to start by thanking the staff and Nancy and Company for all the Fantastic work they've done on the plan it's great with a few minor exceptions as you know the county library regularly receives national awards for excellence in technology I recently saw their

0:53:56strategic plan the aggressive strategic plan of this chronically underfunded sedate-stounding institution stunned me but then I realized they win all these Awards precisely because their strategic plan directs them to reach for the stars regarding our local public buildings our

0:54:10draft strategic plan comments continue to facilities assessment to Priority prioritize and strategize investment I.E Library Public Safety facility no that's way too vague and passive we should stick out our necks and say start construction on a new lifelong Learning

0:54:26Center a new Public Safety facility within the next five years I'll say that again that's way too vague we should stick our neck and say start construction on a new lifelong Learning Center a new Public Safety facility in the next five years I'm personally willing to invest a lot of time in this

0:54:42if we fail we'll regroup and try again I'd rather be known as someone who tried and failed than someone who never tried the vision of success should be driving us not the fear of failure let's reach for the stars and let everyone know what we're doing at the Strategic plan meeting on March

0:54:5926 Mark Friedman suggested that we should directly address historic resources after brief discussion mayor Lyman proposed the strategies to use to implement the goals of strategic plan should include El Cerrito will adopt a historic resources ordinance El Cerrito

0:55:11will perform a survey of a town to identify the most likely historic resources although the council approved this explicit language what originally appeared in the draft strategic plan is examined current policies and historic preservation subsequently Modified by

0:55:24the staff I think the revised language is still essentially content free and completely misrepresents the council's intent as a strategy it's a recipe for an action it's also also worthless in providing any guidance and Direction El Cerrito is a progressive enlightened

0:55:39place but the draft strategic plans language regarding historic resources Marxist as more of a third world country let's Reach for the Stars again we did that with the Cerrito theater our city needs and deserves historic resources ordinance in a survey of the city we need to quit ducking the issue

0:55:55and recognize that the Heritage that is here beyond that our city cares about the environment and climate treating our historic Resources with respect they deserve not only enriches our community adaptive or use of historic resources has been shown time after time to be

0:56:08more environmentally friendly than bulldoze and rebuild from ground up the draft strategic plan recommends many actions of the nature promote adopt develop what you the council requested regarding historic reassesses was perfectly in line with this the draft strategic plan is to be

0:56:23revised to explicitly include the two strategies listed above we've already lost too much time I've lost too much of our heritage let's be Progressive in El Cerrito and shall we treasure Our Heritage not stick our hands and heads in the sand and protest pretend it doesn't exist

0:56:37next page is the vision statement for the Contra Costa County Library thanks so much for your time thank you next speaker please Joanne Rubio I'm not sure how the lights work here can you invite you here green yellow is one minute and red will I'll be asking you to finish thank you good evening

0:57:03mayor and council members my name is Joanne Rubio I taught in El Cerrito for 23 years and lived here for part of that time I'm here tonight to speak to goal C of the Strategic plan in particular the strategy in regards to historical preservation having worked so many years at one of el

0:57:21cereals historic sites The Chiang Mai home I have been interested and taught the history of El Cerrito due to the commitment of the three schools on that site The Chiang Mai home has been well preserved in other cases this may not have occurred and oversight is needed

0:57:39in order to achieve the city's goals C to deepen a sense of place and community I would urge the city council to adopt a more specific historical research strategy by changing the wording not to review Etc as it says but to develop and write historic resources ordinance and

0:57:59do a city survey preserving the city's historical resources will benefit those living here now and generations to come thank you great thank you our third speaker John station John stashik [address removed] the speaker just ahead of me said what I want to say I think it's great that we

0:58:26are focusing on the future we're gonna we're gonna have a blueprint and a plan but this city has a rich Heritage it's an old city it's no different than stage A Century of service Splendid service and a look to the future we have to uh inventory and we we need we need some

0:58:47specific language to protect our historical Assets in this town we've got to find out where they are what they are and don't get on uh don't start bulldozing everything all down because we could we can plan for the future but uh have some respect for the past this is a historical City there's

0:59:11certain things that should be written into any sort of blueprint for the future like a strategic plan so that we protect our heritage and honor it and preserve it that's it great thank you very much any further speakers is anyone else from the audience want to come forward and speak

0:59:28at this time um with that I'll bring it back to the diocese for comments starting starting with uh council member Friedman um as I stated at previous meetings I'm not the world's biggest fan of planning I'm more interested in implementation and I think some of the points raised by their

0:59:48speakers will be directly addressed in the implementation phase of this work as uh well described by assistant city manager Pink House specifically it says City staff to prepare an implementation plan identifying key tasks for each strategy including timeline resources required

1:00:07and success indicators so this is just the first step but I think it's a really good first step I've written a bunch of strategic plans I've sat through a lot of strategic planning meetings and I think this was a good process and I really like the result I think it's

1:00:22clear succinct well communicated and it gives us a good blueprint for the important phase where we actually get down to what are we going to do how much does it cost how long is it going to take to do it which I think will hopefully speak to some of the concerns by the speaker so

1:00:42I'm encouraged councilmember business from your whispered comment to me it sounds like you have several com several topics that you would like to discuss tonight um not several just just a very short number um council member Abelson already brought up one of the strategies that I

1:00:58wanted to just speak about and that was under goal C thank you Suzanne um encourage use of alternative modes of transportation to connect people and create a sense of community I suggested that we make a couple of changes to that verbiage which I forwarded to Suzanne

1:01:13and she suggested I discuss it um with you all she thought it sounded like an okay edit but the edit would be more reflective of what we're actually doing and that would be invest in infrastructure that facilitates use of alternative modes of transportation when

1:01:28I was reading this one I was just thinking that encourage is one of those words that sounds like educate or publicize and I think that what we're actually doing is investing in those um investing in that type of infrastructure so I'd like to suggest that word change and it sounded as

1:01:48though staff thought that it was consistent with the type of actions that would be under this strategy but I wanted to hear if anybody had any thoughts or objections or support to that and I'll ask my same question would you propose that as an addition to goal f

1:02:02I would um thank you this brings up another topic I wanted to mention which is there are multiple strategies that I think fit under different or strategies that could fit under either goal for example I do agree with Suzanne that to a certain extent this alternative modes of

1:02:20transportation do create a sense of place and Community clearly The Greenway has a very distinctive a place that that sort of people have people regarded as a place and it's a place where Community um sort of gathers but I also agree with council member Ableton that this this

1:02:39same strategy supports multiple goals specifically goal F so I would I guess my suggestion to staff is that as you're going through strategies that are supporting multiple goals then the number of actions we have to take just total goals and and get to um get to

1:02:56different strategies is actually less than one might think looking at this list okay so that was one topic which is this specific uh strategy under goal c um do you have do you want to outline your other ones then we can take them one at a time um no I think I also wanted to have a

1:03:14discussion about the comments about the historic preservation issue but I was hoping to get to that word change first since I've thought that might be a longer topic okay so those are your two do you want to talk about those two strategies that are both under goal C uh council member Abelson um I'll

1:03:31just actually follow up on what uh council member venicini had to say in in terms of the transportation one um I like what you said but I think there is a component where we do do pro programs uh we do programs to encourage people um to participate in Bike To Work Day for

1:03:50example we do programs to encourage people to use 511 Contra Costa which is a way of reducing the number of vehicles used and um so we do we do a variety of techniques to do that and but I I guess when I really start thinking about it if I had to compartmentalize these things which we

1:04:15are doing here then what I'd want to do is put it in its most important place and that's why I think f is is important more important than c um number one would be if in the order of things in my in my world is safety you know so those kinds of things would be uh you know if we had if we had

1:04:35little money the things that would peel away first I I wouldn't want to put wanna I would not want to put that in one of those category transportation in one of those categories and I feel like um that's the reason for putting it in F actually for like but but I think we do

1:04:55more than um we do a variety of things so in a way um it seems to me we can either not I don't I don't know that we have to say we could just say encourage use of alternative modes of transportation we could just leave it at that without explaining anything and then it

1:05:17would be under a category right so that would be the explanation and we could just leave it at that because when we start getting into the the detail then we start needing more detail and I don't know that it really I think that's a good point it's redundant with the title of the goal

1:05:36yeah right good point my suggestion would be maybe just to say encourage you some alternative modes of transportation and and put it under F or or both do you have a new topic because we we will obviously come back on the historic preservation no any new topics okay on on this

1:05:59particular top topic I actually um like this bullet but not necessarily for saying all the same reasons I I um took Miss Taylor's comments pretty seriously about promoting dense business nodes uh that that encourage alternative modes of transportation she had a conversation so

1:06:19I would actually suggest that this bullet be um focus on creating dense business nodes that support alternative modes of transportation and the one that council member Abelson that you just uh created which is encourage use of alternative modes of transportation I would like to

1:06:38see that in goal F so that's how I would like to deal with those two uh Concepts is the the dense business nodes that that Miss Taylor commented on I think is actually missing from this and would best fit under this particular strategy by revising this strategy to focus on

1:06:54that and then as council member Abelson and bensoni have suggested add something in in uh goal F that would be SM simple as encourage use of alternative modes of transportation able to that and I also it also comes to mind when councilmember Abelson was speaking about transportation and safety

1:07:14that this to a certain extent also supports Public Health to the extent that people are biking and walking more as a mode of transportation technically could you put that sentence in all three of them right yeah and also I you have to really Define what's alternative what is an alternative why

1:07:32is the assumption that driving in a car is the predominant mode in everything else is an alternative because there's plenty of people who walk bike wheelchair or whatever and they don't consider that an alternative they consider that their primary means of transportation

1:07:52ours are a very dominant moment but I take your but not to certain people I take your points yeah a large percentage of our population under 16 they're not driving and a lot of seniors who aren't driving so any further discussion on on the transportation related strategies so I

1:08:13actually I that was the thought of that occurred to me that I think that I kind of set aside um so I don't like I agree with you like 100 on that um because I actually am one of those people right it's sort of um acts like I'm an alternative or something you know you're

1:08:31counter-cultural but not necessarily in this world um anyway so there's some so there are other what we're really saying is alternatives of the single occupancy car that's really what we're saying yeah um and were you saying encourage so we're acknowledging that some people have

1:08:50absolutely need to in their daily life use a car you're not denying that you know and I would not do that either but we're encouraging the use of alternative of alternative modes of Transportation transportation to the single occupancy car so to that end then I would propose that we rewrite

1:09:16this particular strategy to say encourage dense business modes to minimize automobile minimize or eliminate automobile traffic I think that's a good one yeah it sounds good did you get that do you need me to repeat it encourage dense business nodes to minimize or eliminate automobile

1:09:44traffic I don't I don't know how to rewrite the encourage use of alternate modes of transportation one that would go in F but I think you guys have enough ideas on how to do that what's the word multimodal would that suffice no no I I like alternatives to single

1:10:02occupancy Vehicles encourage use of modes of transportation that are alternatives to single occupancy vehicles under golc that would be integral F undergo F sorry yeah the business one goal apologize for confusing you I was going to move on to the next item which is to touch on uh

1:10:24the strategy under goal C which currently reads review current policies on historic preservation and determine whether updates are required I'm going to start this by proposing the following word changes review current policies on historic preservation and prepare

1:10:43updates to identify and preserve historic and cultural resources would you like me to read it again review current policies on historic preservation and prepare updates to identify and preserve historic and cultural resources the only problem with that is policies

1:11:16don't identify right the the the online specific structures is not a policy it is a um you're correct implementation of a policy that's the updates this first part was to review current policies and the second part was to prepare updates so the updates would be about

1:11:43identifying preserving cultural resources but maybe there's a better way to phrase that yeah I'm not an English major um that that's to start the discussion on this item I'm amenable to any and all changes that especially if they make it read better or have more

1:12:03um logic question that comes to mind is and I think I I have great respect for Tom and all the organizations he's done and I've you know learn a lot when I speak with him um so I I am still thinking about whether or not or what what support we should have for historic resources

1:12:21survey and at what time scale so I guess my first question mayor Lyman is is your thought when you were drafting this that prepare updates to identify meant prepare a historic resources survey or that we would consider preparing a historic resources survey which would mean you know hiring a

1:12:40consultant having them survey the entire city to identify the the resources and that's the first topic that comes to mind on this issue for me yeah and I'll um emphasize what councilmember Freeman did a few minutes ago there is an implementation plan phase that would

1:12:56take into consideration all of the different strategies that are in here and they would have to balance it and make assessments as to when that would be this is a three to five year plan so this is something that would not necessarily be tackled in the next 12 months so but it if we don't have

1:13:15language in here that calls for Action then we'll never get action so so I'm just trying to to move it to an action form um but it but I'm not trying to emphasize what where it is in the priority of our three to five year plan how about review and update current

1:13:34policies on historic preservation and remove our you know whether are required basically you're removing the contingency and and calling for an action of update yeah I think when you said identify that sort of gets to the gist of what um councilmember bessanini was saying that

1:14:01you know that that could be an ordinance that could be an inventory right so it's a means of identification I mean we I don't know that we want to get so specific I mean if you really want to get specific then we're going to have to find out what that definition of

1:14:17historic is and what part of it is it all of it is it something that you know has it been morphed has it been changed I mean right there are a lot lots of definitions that are maybe left best left a little more vague and I think identifying is a good word I like it

1:14:36I was kind of thank you for that I was kind of thinking when Mark said that sentence that that is encapsulates sort of what I was thinking which is review and update our policies not let's at this level given all how all the other strategies read all the other strategies

1:14:52are promote strong neighborhood they are really kind of vague in nature and leave it up to staff to kind of think about what are the actions to promote strong neighborhoods um so I I I'm now leaning towards Mark's statement which I think is a little bit more simple and just says we're going to

1:15:09think about what we do now in terms of historic preservation and I'm sure staff could tell us what we do now on that front and then and then update what we do to get to a higher level of historic preservation without saying any of those things because none of the strategies

1:15:24are are really specific right exactly at this balcony are we the balcony level balcony level um and so they'll I will point out that there was a request for an ordinance so that I'm not saying suggesting that but it potentially could be review and update current policies and

1:15:46ordinances on historic preservation I just you just want to we don't have an ordinance so you can't review and update something you don't have so it it doesn't fit cleanly but an ordinance is part of a policy it is it's the trickle-down of it correct okay any further comments

1:16:08so if we I'm not the current proposal on the table is review and update current policies on historic preservation I I agree with that idea yes store historic and cultural review and update current policies on cultural what should be historic and cultural resources right right it should

1:16:37be it should be review current sorry review and update current policies on preservation of historic and cultural resources that's good okay okay great thank you thank you um any other comments on the Strategic plan I have one I'll just say it um the word beautiful in our vision

1:17:07statement to me is a very old-fashioned word yeah I I sort of cringe every time I see that statement because of that word and it's not that I don't like that word it's not that I don't use that word but it's it's not the word that comes to mind and I recall uh we probably already had

1:17:35this no we didn't I recall council members benassini's comments about us not being Paris or San Francisco oh well I did not say that no I'm just kidding and and so I when I did read this the word beautiful I was curious if anybody else was going to raise it this evening

1:17:53um and I expected it from you I'm surprised well my problem with it a little bit like yours is it's like bragging you know we we declare we are beautiful well if we're beautiful let somebody else say it you know we show a little humility I think if we if we started uh with just leaving it out

1:18:11and so then it would say the city of El Cerrito is a safe connected and environmentally focused very destination with vibrant and so we're describing what we are and um I like I like it better just you know eliminating the word altogether um and maybe it's the bragging thing I I

1:18:32want to I want to be a wonderful place but I don't want to say happy self-proclaimed I don't want to look like I'm bragging there's nothing worse than a city that brags about how wonderful it is yeah and they're in bankruptcy in the next year I'm happy to strike the word

1:18:52um is there a consensus on this matter I'm five striking striking the word we will be removing the word beautiful so happy thanks Janet I move approval of the Strategic plan as amended and the specific amendments regard the uh points we discussed on the uh alternative

1:19:12transportation the historic and cultural preservation and striking the word beautiful and I think those are the ones when we added a one under uh we added a strategy under uh go left yeah exactly we made four changes to the plan this evening I second the motion

1:19:33we have a motion in a second before us all those in favor say aye aye opposed abstentions let the record show it passed unanimously thank you very much to staff for all of your hard work on this matter it's fantastic work so we really are proud to move forward so

1:19:50thank you thank you opportunity into who we are as a city and um I appreciate the fact that so many members of the public participated there really were a lot and I basically appreciate everything that went into this plan by all of the different parties um and um

1:20:18um thank you to everybody who made it happen yeah thank you with that we will move on to item 7B I see Miss Mintz is here to provide us a presentation on item 7B good evening mayor and city council my name is Melanie Mintz and I'm the city's environmental services division

1:20:52manager I'm here before you tonight to prep to provide an update on the progress of the San Pablo Avenue specific plan and to recommend that city council award a contract Amendment to the consultant firm Mig to complete the plan which now includes also a San Pablo Avenue

1:21:09complete streets component and an environmental impact report in order to look forward I'd like to provide a brief background on the project discuss some of the changes that have taken place since its Inception and look at what it will take to wrap up this project to be able to begin to enjoy the

1:21:29results of this forward-looking community effort I will then turn the presentation over to Mig to provide a brief presentation on their work plan elements and schedule going forward the San Pablo Avenue specific plan was begun in 2007 in response to a number of

1:21:47items and issues amongst them as identified in the 1999 General plan the Avenue is home to unattractive development and is in a pedestrian unfriendly environment the general plan I identified a number of strategies for addressing this issue some of which have been completed such

1:22:06as beginning to improve some of the major gateways to the city and some of which are underway such as this specific plan I know we don't want to brag about our city but I think it's safe to say that the city has enjoyed some many successes in the last several years along the length of the Avenue

1:22:22including major projects such as the restoration of City Hall rebuilding of City Hall the restoration of the Cerrito theater the purchase Creek restoration and the lonely Greenway extension at Baxter Creek gateway and the completion of the San Pablo Avenue streetscape project

1:22:37which included numerous elements including re-landscaping of the medians planting over 100 over 300 trees installing new wayfinding signage and Banners converting our street lights to LED street lights additional crosswalks improved crosswalks benches and historical pavers that describe some of

1:22:57the history that's occurred in the city as you know San Pablo Avenue has been featured on the cover of Western City magazine and the streetscape project won a national icma award for Community sustainability so as we move forward with a specific plan was which was launched in 2007 I

1:23:15think it's safe to say that there have been many changes on the Avenue and in many ways San Pablo Avenue has arrived the goal and role for the specific plan would be to both maintain momentum and to inspire increased private and public investment in this ongoing

1:23:29transformation with input from the public through the San Pablo Avenue advisory committee public meetings and Planning Commission and drb meetings planning principles for the San Pablo Avenue specific plan were developed that continue to be relevant today the planning principles include a number

1:23:46of items in the categories of circulation land use Urban Design infrastructure and Community facilities that support the development of a vibrant cohesive and Community strengthening corridor meeting these Community aspirations requires both a vision and a supportive

1:24:03implementation and Regulatory framework which is economically feasible sustainable and regenerative that is that it guides and supports each project each private or public project or undertaking to incrementally build towards and add value to the ultimate goal turning the vision into a supportive

1:24:20into a complete supportive Regulatory and implementation framework is the goal for the specific plan going forward some of you who are involved more directly than I during the timeline I'm about to present might have additional insights into the process but to set the

1:24:36stage for moving forward here's a brief summary a draft specific plan was prepared in 2009 along with a mitigated negative declaration pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act based upon comments received a second draft was prepared and released in 2010.

1:24:51in 2011 city council held a special study session during which they directed staff to do further revisions to the plan to deal with remaining open issues such as those concerning excessive parking requirements economic feasibility and other planning and land use issues surrounding the adequacy of

1:25:06the plan in readying the city for quality and successful Transit oriented development City staff secured funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to conduct more detailed Tod feasibility and parking studies and presented the results of that plan in November of

1:25:212011. the studies and Council concluded that the plan needed to be revised to incorporate more flexible parking requirements a more flexible approach to mixed-use development including allowing ground floor residential and increased densities to maximize the transit and

1:25:35development opportunities around the two BART stations coincidentally or maybe not so coincidentally the state Regional and even our own local planning context was Simonton simultaneously changing during this period assembly Bill 32 the California global warming Solutions Act was passed in 2006

1:25:52and Senate Bill 375 the sustainable communities and climate protection Act was passed in 2008. both of these set the stage for the Bay Area and the city to begin actively planning for more sustainable land use and transportation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and

1:26:06improve the overall quality of life in urban areas such as ours as you know the city's own climate action plan currently under review and bring brought being brought to you in May for adoption includes numerous strategies which underscore the importance of density

1:26:19walkability a community a Vibrant Community economy and trans and oriented development plan Bay Area which has just been released by abag and MTC emphasizes the importance of linking residential development with Transit and developing complete compact walkable communities

1:26:35it directs the majority of transportation funding over the next period of time to support infill and Transit oriented development together along with an uptick in the local economy and the success of the city's recent placemaking efforts the city is in an excellent position to

1:26:48attract private and public investment to realize its vision of a vibrant cohesive and Community strengthening corridor going forward with a specific plan staff aims to respond to the background and conditions I just described over the next approximately 10 to 12 months staff

1:27:05will work with Mig to complete the plan which includes updating it adding a complete streets element which Mig will go into more detail about and completing an environmental impact report which will clear the way from a SQL perspective and provide clear guidance

1:27:18to Future development which is consistent with the city's goals and vision as well as clearly articulated in a specific plan the work will involve integrating the results of the Tod feasibility and parking study better maximizing the development opportunities around the

1:27:31BART stations adding a complete streets element which is an important component which will enable the city to consider all modes of travel pedestrian Transit bicycle and automobile when evaluating and mitigating for mobility issues the plan will have a stronger focus on

1:27:47Place making will offer more flexibility to potential developers in response to the market as long as the overall form of their project meets the city's public realm and private realm standards as will be articulated in a form-based code that will be created as a part of completing

1:28:00the specific plan completing the plan will entail convening a technical Advisory Group consisting of Caltrans AC Transit and Bart to be involved in the complete streets component and reformatting the plan so that the front end becomes a much briefer summary of the city's

1:28:13Vision likely in a brochure format and the second volume becomes a complete implementation and Regulatory document that provides both City staff and the private sector clear development Guidance the third volume will continue to be an assembly of all of the technical studies and a summary of the

1:28:28input that were completed to complete the plan with that I would like to turn it over to Mig as you know the city also just awarded completing the urban Greening plan to their firm as they will describe working together with us on these parallel projects provides numerous synergies and

1:28:45benefits to both projects and to the public at the culmination of their presentation I look forward to answering any questions you may have foreign thank you very much my name is Daniel isofano one of the founding members of MiG and thank you Mr Mayor members of

1:29:08council City staff and community members here in El Cerrito we're delighted uh to be here tonight to talk about continuing work on the San Pablo Avenue specific plan and I just want you all to know as a city council that we are fully committed to bringing this project uh

1:29:28successfully to the finish line and we have assigned a top project manager and urban designer makul mahatra to lead us on to that end and to work with you and staff and the whole community of El Cerrito to make this project come to fruition as Melanie indicated there have

1:29:49been numerous great changes here in the community and along the Avenue and I want to congratulate you and the entire city for all of these efforts because all of them had up collectively to what is already becoming a new sense of place along San Pablo and all of these images

1:30:05attest to that fact as well as the fact that you're now attracting potential new development and private investment to be part of this community so here in 2013 there are the new directions that Melanie spoke about with regard to State and regional and local mandates as a

1:30:23firm Mig has been specializing in complete Street design and implementation we've been very successful in bringing grants to the table and seeing communities build these actual multimodal facilities but even more importantly going Beyond complete streets to see them as places that are

1:30:42truly social Gathering and more culturally rewarding to the communities as a whole I've had the opportunity to work very recently with the BART board of directors in their strategic planning session earlier this year and of their five priorities one of them is now

1:30:58stations as places so they have made a huge effort toward pushing this idea and we can take advantage of this new Bart priority emphasis and being that we are one of the few communities that have more than one BART station we are in a great position to utilize that new

1:31:17energy and enthusiasm from Bard and some of the resources they're making available to us to help enable this part of the plan it couldn't be better timing with your uh adoption of the Strategic plan framework here this evening because again you've talked about sense of place

1:31:34and the Avenue is such an important uh element of that and an identity for the community we have again a real opportunity to take this on and so I would like to now introduce McCall McCool mahatra to explain how we intend to go forward with this San Pablo Avenue

1:31:54work program cool thanks Daniel as Melanie already mentioned one of the key areas for focusing on the specific plan is to ensure that we focus on Place making and as you all mentioned to deepen the sense of place because that is a critical component of what we will be doing in

1:32:14this specific plan and in order to make sure that it's implementable it will look at tactical urbanism that is to say how can we implement it with not just millions of dollars but also with a few thousands of dollars how can we iteratively and creatively create a

1:32:31great sense of place that focuses on the two Keynotes um especially around the two BART stations um we will come up with the optimum development we will learn from what other BART stations have done successfully and not so successfully as Melanie mentioned we will ensure to make

1:32:52sure that ground floor residential if that is feasible is a common dated along the corridor to make that happen to implement that it is critical that we come up with flexible and clear development friendly form-based code that responds to changing market conditions as we have seen over the past

1:33:12few years a key component is to integrate complete streets and when we talk about complete streets we are ensuring that the non-automobile users of the street especially pedestrians bicyclists and Transit users become at the very least equal uses of the street this will help unlock how we

1:33:33traditionally look at our corridors and make sure that we incorporate and encourage pedestrians bicyclists and Transit users along the corridor ensuring implementation in an action oriented we clearly heard the council especially at the urban Greening session but also at the strategic planning

1:33:53discussion that you just had it's critical that all the strategies we propose are very focused on very clear implementable actions a key component as Melanie mentioned from previous mnd we are looking at a program eir this will ensure that any development that comes

1:34:13in is able to tear off with a initial study that would create a low threshold and encourage more development to happen with less hurdles to cross over as long as the development proposed is in sync with what the specific plan is saying and then finally something we have heard

1:34:34consistently today we want to make sure that this plan integrates and builds upon different initiatives that you have successfully done in the past few months including the climate action plan the San Pablo complete streets plan that is being proposed The Pedestrian and bike

1:34:51Plan update that is being envisioned concurrently the urban Greening plan that we talked about a couple weeks ago and then of course the old learning Greenway plan that is under construction right now and is going to become the jewel in the city all in all this will

1:35:08help implement this treaty plan that you guys talked about a few minutes ago and also clear provide a very clear road map to make sure that it gets Incorporated in the general Plan update to make this happen we have to ensure that there is clear Community ownership and pride and

1:35:27the recommendations reflect that the schedules that we are proposing needs to be very action oriented and there are three key milestones we are proposing for the next 10 months in the summer of 2013 this year we propose to come up in the next four or five months with the

1:35:45draft specific plan uh in fall 2013 we will come up with the draft San Pablo Avenue complete streets plan both of which will be integrated within the next 10 to 11 months by about January or February of 2014 in the final specific plan the complete streets plan for San

1:36:05Pablo Avenue and the eir report thank you and there might be one question you are some of you are having which is about the build Inc project in the Mayfair project and we the award tonight does not include that project the specific plan and the eir will be able to go

1:36:28forward on their own however if that project proceeds and I know it's up to the for at the MSC meeting tonight we will be looking at um working with that project to do their sqa project level clearance and integrating it as a catalyst project within the eir so there'll be numerous

1:36:45synergies and benefits especially to that first Catalyst project by being integrated but we decided due to timing to look at the specific plan I think both for building and ourselves we want to keep them as severable in case um they want to know in case we get bogged down they don't need to get

1:37:04bogged down and similarly if for some reason that project weren't to go forward we still know that in this schedule that we outlined we'll be able to move other projects forward so we hope that they'll go together we think there's a lot of synergies and benefits

1:37:16to being able to look at a real live project that utilizes this code that works together that utilizes the same analysis and studies but if they aren't where they're they're separate so that will be a separate contract that will be conducted through that development project

1:37:32thank you any questions starting with uh council member benicini thank you just a couple questions um I noticed in the staff report you discussed developing new multimodal level of service standards I wanted to hear a little bit more about that are we is Mig developing this in consultation

1:37:52with City staff based on sort of new ite or new Institute for transportation Engineers information or is this based on what other cities have been doing I just wanted to hear more about that term and I should also add that event Ortiz our engineering manager is here as well

1:38:08and she'll be working closely with that on us and in fact secured the grant to be able to add this component which um and then I'll turn it over to Mig to respond to the technical aspect but doing that at this time really changes what we're able to do with a specific

1:38:23plan for example some of the densities that we'd like to see would not be possible under our existing Los because if we were just looking at automobiles we'd be we'd be stuck and so by looking at all of the modes and looking at Mobility for everybody and looking at

1:38:38the types of Transportation improvements that will reduce that will increase Mobility is really becomes the effort but I will allow Mig to talk about the technical aspects of that or Yvette um I I think Melanie already spoke about it we will look at the industry's best

1:38:53standards we have transportation Consultants fair and peers on board who will work on making sure we create multimodal standards for all modes of travel including pedestrians bicyclists Transit users be it buses or Bart and then also automobiles like we said automobiles become one user of the

1:39:15street and there are other three or four other equal users of this street this will help like Melanie mentioned there are some intersections which in the build out scenario may not traditionally satisfy the typical level of service standards for automobiles but the

1:39:34community and the city will get an opportunity to see how does how do the other modes work that is to say how does pedestrians bicyclists and Transit users work in concert with the automobile that's what I wanted to hear when you stand on San Pablo and cutting and are

1:39:52waiting to cross the street and you're standing there for 42 seconds and you know you want to be considered in the standards so I'm happy to hear that that's what you you're speaking about an interesting component of that is how it relates to the eir um you know some of this is a learning

1:40:07curve as we go through this but as we model the different types of Investments that would need to take place to support a pedestrian or a bicyclist or a Transit user those need to be robust enough to show that you're getting enough people moving to be able to offset potentially some of

1:40:23the impacts to the other modes so it's really looking at them all and through the eir process of evaluating how many Peak trips would come from a certain development or a certain build out and looking at all those modes we can adjust to make sure that the infrastructure the

1:40:35infrastructure that supports all the modes is adequate and just one more terminology question in the in the presentation we talked about form-based code which is very exciting and I'm really interested to see how how uh how this goes but in the staff report there's a discussion about

1:40:51a hybrid form-based code is there any key distinction between sort of typical form-based code and hybrid form-based code yes I I think so the we love the form-based code for its ability to provide a very clear road map in terms of the overall envelope of development

1:41:09but we want to add to that envelope of development something that is uniquely El Cerrito and uniquely San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito so uh besides the traditional standards such as setbacks step back sites so and so forth that you see in a form-based code we are saying

1:41:29that it would have certain elements that would automatically speak that of the sense of place that is to say the Avenue in El Cerrito not doing anything inside the building you're still talking about outside the building and some sort of character defining feature or it's not

1:41:46having to do with the use okay perfect thank you those are all my questions thank you member Abelson um yes um the first question I had was about the technical advisory committee and what is the what exactly is the technical advisory committee advising about and then I'm going to also respond to

1:42:04one of the things Rebecca said I think at the end let me go back to that so the technical Advisory Group because we'll be looking at uh Road width Lane widths um different features that might or might not impact the way that a bus utilizes a bus stop it will be involving the people

1:42:21from those agencies to assure that as we're moving forward with this mm qlos that it's also taking into account the needs of for example AC Transit and then of course it also has to be consistent with what Caltrans will accept since the you know curb to curb is theirs so we'll

1:42:37be working with them at the beginning I think three distinct points to assure that what we're looking at in terms of the use of our entire roadway is consistent with the stakeholder agencies that have jurisdiction on it the short answer to my question which is what kind

1:42:52of what I was wanting is it's about the streets it's about the street so yeah the technical advisor group actually is being convened although specifically for the complete streets element okay of the plan that we were talking about so it is for the street although

1:43:04the benefit of of course going along with the specific plan is that it'll coincide and harmonize with the other elements but it is for the street component on on the Caltrans advising I mean they not all of San Pablo Avenue but is is within the katrians uh domain

1:43:22so the part that isn't would not be covered by it unless we decide we want to right exactly we have a little bit more latitude in those areas okay the second question that I have is um maybe both the other questions that I have are about accessibility the picture

1:43:40that was of the um in the presentation kind of the last picture maybe I don't I can't remember now in the the part that the one with the houses the multi-family with the Stoops um you can continue I I know which one you're talking about it was the not that one it was that one

1:44:06that one that is a delightful example of a building that at least on the surface looks not accessible um and I I hope that that what we would create in this is a um standard that promotes accessibility not that uh champions lack of accessibility which is what this

1:44:28picture uh represents to me um so this I mean because of those stairs assuming there's no other way that you can get in through the back door or through the kitchen which have been a lot of lawsuits about in restaurants um you a person in a wheelchair can't get in this building at all

1:44:49so um I would hope that we would develop things that promote accessibility and inclusion of everyone not just limited to some the other thing I was wondering about is will there be something Incorporated in this that will ensure that there is functionality of in particular the

1:45:14sidewalks because there have been a lot of things added to the sidewalks that create a sense of place and I appreciate a sense of place however what they do in total is eliminate the function in some cases of of the use of the sidewalk that is to say you want to

1:45:35get from point A to point B and you'd like to maybe do so on a relatively straight line and not zigzag or not do some other funny maneuver to get around the obstacle you know what amount to obstacles so will there be something that ensures that that kind of thing is

1:45:53is handled yes I mean your comments on accessibility and making sure that we I think in our conversations we've all recognize and are recognizing as we develop design guidelines the issue around accessibility and Mobility for all and one of the benefits of doing the

1:46:11form-based code it will include public realm as well as private realm standards so the public realm standards for example for the sidewalk will include guidelines such as those that you're you're talking about and we'll make note of you know that issue of balancing

1:46:25needs and knowing that Mobility is the key one and the complete streets element while we'll be looking at Place making the key the key purpose of the complete streets element will be movement of people in the different modes so that'll be we'll make note of both of those and

1:46:40we also did listen to to the comment that you had about accessibility last week in terms of some of these types of developments and so we've I'll have Mig listen to that again in terms of access yeah we'll find a better picture next time thank you council member Friedman

1:46:56yeah um thanks for the staff report that was good thank you Mr isafano and Kali um I think that this does a good job of pointing out the sources of funding but it does not give any specificity on how that 422 thousand dollars is going to be spent and I think that's a a very large

1:47:17amount of money for planning and I would like to have a breakdown you know it's talking about three different elements here what's the breakdown how much they cost um in the future I would like to see for a large amount of money like this more under Financial background about where

1:47:37the money will be spent um and well while I'm talking save this is not a question but as we had the discussion on the urban Greening plan um I can only be comfortable spending this amount of money on planning if we have a very specific action plan that includes timeline how much

1:47:58implementation of the plans will cost and identifies potential sources of revenue so I don't want to be a broken record but I think that it's a lot of money to spend on more planning on top of all the other plans that were identified and I really appreciate the

1:48:14chart that showed how they inter weave which I think is very important but you know by my calculations I wasn't here when some of these amounts were planned it's close to a million dollars in planning so I hope that it leverages many millions of implementation money

1:48:32also but thank you councilmember Bridges comments questions brother I don't have any other comments I just want to thank staff for putting the Finish Line Insight finally um and the only question I had about the funding was the measure J money is that May June when do we expect the last 125.

1:48:51May 2nd and May 15th I believe are the two um meet CCTA meetings that will be requesting that money at so keep your fingers crossed is it May 2nd and May 14th is it yeah no it's on my calendar that sounds right yeah yeah do we have any public speakers on this item yes we have one speaker I'm

1:49:13sorry it's not right it's on my calendar but we will check seconds right you have it tomorrow is the third no I'm sorry it's may not April I'm sorry okay yeah yeah they're 14 days apart I know that uh we have one public speaker Tom panis good evening mayor Lyman members of the

1:49:50Council on City staff my name is Tom Pettis and I live at [address removed] in El Cerrito I was gratified to read and staff report the specific plan will be overhauled to include a stronger focus on Place making people's been suggesting this idea for several years we would be wise to

1:50:04leverage our local Heritage as we explore this San Pablo Avenue itself is the likely the oldest historic Legacy of non-native American origin that we have in the East Bay among the ways our city has already found to honor this Legacy are installing historic U.S science forage

1:50:17signage along the Avenue placing interpretive pavers along the Avenue erecting the Lincoln Highway signs along the Avenue let's expand this activity the current specific plan notes that San Pablo Avenue has served as a transportation Corridor and focus of development from Oakland to Martinez for

1:50:31nearly 200 years accordingly a goal of the plan should be that the final outcome reflects the historic nature of San Pablo Avenue itself I believe the traffic analysis in the plan is near that needs some attention the staff report notes among other things particular emphasis will be placed on

1:50:45collecting updated information including current traffic counts and doing analyzes and identifying appropriate mitigation measures this is Thoroughly needed because the last traffic analysis presented to the public contended there's just a single level of service

1:50:57erf condition at cutting in San Pablo and none at Central and San Pablo set the I-80 freeway on and off lamps did not contribute to congestion on San Pablo completely ignored traffic on streets that cross San Pablo Avenue streets can be quite congested and streets that will

1:51:11certainly be impacted by the Pacific plan suggested there was no congestion on San Pablo Avenue away from commute hours fail to observe it was common for traffic on Central Avenue Fairmont and Plaza access road to wait for one or even two signal phases to get through

1:51:25need to pay particular attention around our Transit centers because if we are successful in adding additional residue units in these hubs we will see more traffic hopefully this increase will not become measured with the increase in population without believing the point I believe

1:51:38it's important to get the traffic analysis correct in this document we're very fortunate the staff has been so diligent in locating and pursuing grant money and other funding to help this important revision specific plan I know that people are looking forward to

1:51:49reading the next draft of both a specific plan and the complete streets plan thank you for your time this evening thank you any other speakers yeah um any comments from Council seeing none they'll entertain a motion at this time Professional Services agreement with

1:52:16more I oh gosh I forgot how to say your name Daniel isofano I Stefano goldsman Mig in an amount not to exceed 422 thousand dollars to complete the San Pablo Avenue specific plan complete streets plan and environmental impact report second we have a motion that's been made and

1:52:36seconded all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed abstentions seeing none Let IT director Show Pass unanimously thank you very much um that brings us to items seven C um you can leave the computer on because I bet Mr Schultz is going to be using it we have a brief presentation from Garth

1:53:00Schultz um I asked this item to be put on as a result of seeking direction for how to vote at the April 11th waste management meeting that's coming up we have an opportunity to vote on a service agreement and contract for post collection Services we'll get details from Mr Schultz but I'm hoping

1:53:36that you can express how you would like me to vote thank you very much honorable mayor council members I'm Garth Schultz I'm an environmental analyst in your Environmental Services Division among other things my primary area of responsibility is solid waste handling

1:53:52in El Cerrito including recycling green waste garbage and the other stuff so we're here tonight to talk about post collection in particular in seeking the council's endorsement of a term sheet that's been negotiated by the local joint Powers Authority recycle more that

1:54:09currently oversees for the West County cities of El Cerrito Richmond Sao Paulo Pinole and Hercules everything that happens after you put your containers in the trucks so a little bit of review figured it was always good to start from the beginning what is post collection

1:54:28um on the left of the slide you can see all the activities that are collection these are performed by our franchise Solid Waste hauler East Bay sanitary as well as by the city itself for garbage green waste and recycling once those materials are put in the curbside bins

1:54:44by residents and businesses in El Cerrito they're picked up in trucks and then they're shipped off to various facilities that's where post Collection comes in most of the materials that are put in to the curbside bins are handled by Republic Services in a contract with

1:55:00recycle more in a contract that ends at the end of this year and that's for transfer transfer transfer transport and disposal of garbage the stuff going in the blue cans for those of you at home for the green waste which is the stuff in the green cans and is composted on

1:55:17top of the old Richmond landfill and then we as the city handle the recycling processing currently in a separate contract with a different entity few visuals and this is the transfer station where the garbage currently gets shipped before it goes to Keller County

1:55:34and Lionville over in central Contra Costa area this is a very dark photo but it's the composting facility on top of the old Richmond landfill at one par Boulevard the Landfill closed a few years ago and uh about three years ago now the composting facility was started up there

1:55:51I'm going to be coordinating some tours hopefully later this year and we'll try to get Council invitations it's a very fun place to visit and this is the household hazardous waste facility at 101 Pittsburgh Avenue where El Cerrito residents and the residents from

1:56:06other West County cities in the jpa can bring their household hazardous waste items it's a drive-through system and they unload it for you and it's all no cost at the drop-off site it's all included on the monthly Solid Waste bills but these are the types of activities we're talking about when

1:56:22we're talking about post collection so knowing that the contract was terminating or has been scheduled to terminate towards the end of this year where cyclemore went out and did a procurement process um to solicit requests for proposals or really this was called a statement of

1:56:41Interest process wherein we could uh as a or whether where JP the recycle more jpa could as an authority seek to get competitive bids for the whole pool of materials handled in West County so that process began back in late 2011 in early 2012 the procurement procurement process was

1:57:02actually opened and towards the end of summer there were six competitive proposals received on the table by recycle more among those was Republic bidding again for the materials and it's important to note that there was a lower bid apparent bid by waste management but it didn't

1:57:22include a lot of extras that were included by Republic and I'll get into that in a couple minutes here so there was a wide variety but there was a lot of service gains being proposed by Republic itself which is why an evaluation committee which I sat on recommended Republic be considered for

1:57:39the post post collection contract and the board ultimately selected that entity for negotiations leading up towards a contract now where we are is that the uh the board said go out negotiate some agreeable terms between recycle more and Republic and bring back a term sheet for

1:57:59our approval before entering into final contract negotiations in the term sheet that was included in the council packet you'll see on page 13 of 14 there's this notice of special consideration for El Cerrito and that's specifically because El Cerrito doesn't have the same collector

1:58:15as all the other recycle more member agencies they all have a republic owned company called Richmond Sanitary Service rrss and it's through RSS that the other member agencies are getting a lot of additional benefit as of a result of this procurement process the proposal

1:58:34from Republic included moving them to Services we already have weekly Greenways collection weekly recycling collection additional services for commercial businesses and that was really valuable and really important for those member agencies and it's uh it's good that they have this

1:58:50available to them now for us however we've already got those services and so we really needed to be in a position to say well what's what's the benefit for El Cerrito in this um so that you know the new collection Services go for the other member agencies there's some new post

1:59:05collection options on the table as a result of the process including C and D which is construction demolition recycling where folks doing you know small projects to large projects uh can put all of their mixed construction and demolition to bring into one bin and get

1:59:19that sorted for them and get a certificate of diversion from landfill and a new thing to our region called dry waste processing which is taking dry material from commercial businesses and processing it such that the commercial business just puts the wet kind of foodie stuff in one bin and all

1:59:37the other stuff in another and that can get processed out it's a process San Jose has been engaged in now I think for about a year or so and it's leading to some good diversion numbers overall what is on the table from this post collection term sheet and why we care as

1:59:54El Cerrito is that it's you know for the entire region this is going to increase diversion it's going to bring the entire region closer to what has been seen as a Statewide goal is 75 diversion by 2020.

2:00:09now that hasn't been mandated down to the individual municipality level yet but there's some expectations that may happen at some time and this gets the entire region closer to that Target um as it's laid out now the post collection contract that's being proposed doesn't increase the costs of

2:00:25post-collection in fact in all likelihood those costs will come down although since nothing's completely signed and ink yet I don't want to promise anything um and for for us everything that's been developed by recycle more during the course of these negotiations factor into

2:00:42what El Cerrito's own term sheets might be and the reason I state that is that our direction is to negotiate our own agreement with them based upon the terms that have been developed through the entire Jillian Powers Authority we've gone out in the solicitation with them

2:00:57our waste is considered in the same pool and we're getting that economy of scale as a region is a virtue of that but because of our unique situation we feel that we'll be better served both now and in the future if we have an independent relationship with Republic and Republic

2:01:12our recycle more can then work on behalf of the other member agencies that have the same collector and then the final detail in terms of summarizing the term sheet is it would then be a contract or if approved it would result in a contract that would be coterminous with our post-collection

2:01:27agreements ending in 2025.

2:01:31talked a little bit about diversion and this is a chart developed by recyclemores consultant hfnh Consultants um and I found it really uh telling in terms of how much further the terms on the table get the entire region towards higher diversion you can see the the

2:01:50bottom line at 50 percent is the you know historic ab939 Mandate of diverting fifty percent of material by 2000 and then the upper line at 75 percent is the assumed goal it will eventually impact municipalities and Joint Powers authorities across the state again this

2:02:08is something that's been adopted via ab31 for 341 it's a Statewide goal it is not yet something that's mandated for the region from a next test perspective I highlighted two different tracks one is that for the council tonight the recommendation is to approve the term

2:02:28sheet and endorse it in direct mayor Lyman to vote on the council's endorsement we would then proceed to negotiate an independent contract with the Republic and have a draft contract ready by July and and bring that to the council for consideration in July recycle more will be on a very similar

2:02:46track doing essentially the same time frame for their post-collection agreement directly with Republic now I'm happy to answer questions that's a lot of detail and there's a very involved term sheet that has most of the major elements of what will eventually be included in the contract and it's the

2:03:06Baseline for what we'll be considering in El Cerrito but essentially tonight it's just approving the term sheet for the recycle more entity itself let me let me start by asking a few questions that might help explain the Dilemma that a council member like I or a board

2:03:21member like I might be facing the waste management proposal was significantly less expensive but and not only technically affects the other County the other cities in the jpa where would our waste go if waste management was the one that's selected and it does have an effect on our

2:03:43hauling contract if I remember absolutely so if the board had selected Waste Management to negotiate with to get a contract our waste would eventually have ended up with having to go over the Richmond San Rafael Bridge up to Novato and if you've ever gone up the 101 towards Wine Country you can see

2:04:01a large landfill off to the right as you're going north there's a redwood landfill and that's where the trash would have gone garbage our composting material also would have gone out there for composting processing as well as C and D and um shoot I had another question I forgot it

2:04:20but that was the one that that's the one that the oh the other one that I was there was a request for uh Republic Services to provide a breakdown of the coffee cost differential um and that benefits us because it does identifies precisely what is in the post collection Services

2:04:41um which includes two recycling coordinators and an extra week of pickup did they ever provide that extra breakdown yeah so what what mayor lyman's referring to is that you know in the bids that were put on the table every other entity said this is just the cost of post collection and Republic

2:04:59said this is the cost of post collection plus some collection stuff that we're going to throw in for you for this price they did provide the breakdown for that those extra collection Services the recycling coordinators in the weekly um there's still some discussion between

2:05:15recyclemore's team and Republic's team as to the legitimacy of those numbers but they are you know still being held firm for El Cerrito I've analyzed you know at you know at given the details that have been put on the table we we still have a very strong possibility of

2:05:34going through negotiations ending up with the most competitive deal on the table that we could have had especially when you consider that long drive over the Richmond bridge for us right thank you um I'm going to start with council member bridges on this item no questions

2:05:49councilmember Friedman council member Abelson um yeah I have a question if we went through the process would we have to go out to bid well so the the beauty of what's happened is recycle more has done the bidding for us and selected the post collection entity for the entire region and we still

2:06:10remain a member of the The Joint Powers Authority really the difference at this point is whether they've selected the the contractor that we contract with independently or whether it's going to be something that they manage on our behalf and we have that option I think

2:06:28for for El Cerrito given the complexity of the the deal that's on the table for the other member agencies it's going to be much simpler for us to deal with it on our own I just want to make sure that that our attorney thinks it's true that we don't have to separately go

2:06:43out to bid no as a member of the jpa um we cannot we can basically follow the process that Garth outlined okay so that's yeah okay that will work okay okay thank you for the question and to be sure um to build on uh Mr Schultz's response um the contract between the other four

2:07:14cities and Republic is um because it's an addition of services over each City's individual service agreement the level of complexity of the term sheet is astronomical as a result of because there's additional services and those services are supposed to be built into

2:07:35the garbage disposal rate as opposed to the collection rate it gets very complicated very quickly um councilman venison any questions thank you I don't have any questions g'day mayor Lyman if I may just one other point on the procurement aspect of this as a member of the authority The

2:07:53Authority currently retains the right to direct El Cerrito's waste stream especially the garbage and the green waste right now we've kind of got this grandfathered in ability to direct our recycling flow on our own but they still have the right to direct the flow of

2:08:09garbage and green waste and they've said we're negotiating with Republic to direct your flow in this direction then it just matters what the terms of that are so they've they've essentially exercised the right to say this is where we'd like that to go any speakers on this item no speakers in

2:08:26this item any comments council member Friedman I would like to make a motion to endorse the term sheet but to give the mayor the flexibility to adjust to whatever amendments or changes may come between now and the final approval because I've met with the mayor on this

2:08:46subject and I attended one of the meetings as his alternate and you know there could be something that come up that comes up and I don't want to tie your hands I think you understand the issues extremely well with the help of Mr Schultz I appreciate that and I just

2:09:02want to State as someone who has gone to these meetings that I have expressed on our behalf that the community of El Cerrito would like to see our neighbors get weekly collection get weekly composting potentially even get the type of composting services that we have so

2:09:20for for that and the fact that I don't want to see our waste get hauled across the San Rafael Bridge I have been supportive of this over time not having said that there are cities that are not quite as conscious about their waste and so I do appreciate the latitude in case there is

2:09:43you know some modifications that we need to adapt to as the meeting goes forward we have a motion I'll make a second we have a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none I'll call the question all those in favor say aye aye aye opposed abstentions let the record show that the

2:10:01item passed unanimously with that I'd like to move on to item eight um item eight is our updates and I have a few but I'm going to ask if anybody else would like to go first I'll go first um Parker on March 20 s last Wednesday and the staff had made a recommendation

2:10:31to approve the temporary pop-up Garden that I talked about previously and the commission did vote to approve that they received an update from our Public Works director Jerry Bradshaw regarding the status report of the Huber Park infrastructure problems particularly the

2:10:50water problems that are up at the top of Park Street and they have some Boulder fill that's sort of a temporary fix and it hasn't been totally resolved with a lack of water that we've had this winter it's sort of held um there was an update on the um remainder of the measure ww Grant funds

2:11:13that the park and rec uh commission had asked for and um I think we spent through 2012 about five hundred thousand dollars we have a little more than five hundred thousand dollars remaining um but no decisions were made about any recommendations from park and rec about

2:11:29what they had interest in Bill Driscoll gave an update on the irrigation issues that have been addressed at Canyon Trail and um Mr Jones gave an update about the lack of progress um with the joint use agreement with the school facilities and Fields and I guess the soccer is continuing to pay 48

2:11:54dollars an hour on Sundays for the soccer field and I believe Mr Hannon is meeting with the superintendent next week Thursday specifically and I guess this is just a recommendation um to the council and maybe the field users out there that there will be a Joint

2:12:16School District in El Cerrito city council meeting on May 7th and if things don't get resolved then I would like to see a lots of children in here with cleats and jerseys and jerseys to make our needs known and we share this problem with Richmond um that's all I have councilmember

2:12:34Abelson yes um I have a couple of things they might want to mention that seems like I seem to be uh going to uh committees where there are discussions about movies um first of all uh the Environmental Quality committee was a co-sponsor of rising Waters that was shown recently at

2:12:57the Cerrito theater at um no charge to the participants there was a lot of work that went into that there was really good attendance at that and then afterwards everyone who was interested went over to Nong Tong restaurant for breakout sessions and um one of the the things that came out of

2:13:19that was input into the one Bay Area process so that's especially exciting that you can actually sort of see a concrete movement of the information about it from people watching a movie which was on climate change to um talking about it to then forwarding it for possible action in the one Bay

2:13:42Area so that was really pretty exciting and uh it was a tremendous amount of work and I would like to thank everyone involved I'm looking at Garth because I know some of it was work that he did and I um not sure who else is here I can't tell behind the podium that um there was

2:14:02a lot of Staff work um there was um work on the parts of others but um all together it was it was a great opportunity really to Showcase uh El Cerrito to our community and to our surrounding neighbors we had a very diverse audience and it was I was very pleased with the outcome

2:14:25um the um at the committee on Aging they previewed a movie called The Health Care movie that's the name of it and um the then they had a lively discussion about it and decided that in fact that they would like to sponsor the viewing of it but the details of that viewing are not yet

2:14:46determined um so it'll um um you know it remains to be seen but that's what's happening then um think I have um some of the stuff I've been doing I've already mentioned I think on the um East Bay division of the league of California cities we had as a speaker um last let's see last month uh Dan

2:15:17Bornstein who's a reporter for the um Contra Costa times and his he spoke about pension reform and it was um I would say a very um Lively interaction and he made um a lot of points about his position and it would be interesting to me to at some point have our own discussion

2:15:49about it with our own numbers to kind of see what it really means what what's the concern you know what is the um should we be concerned about our pensions and what are the details in our city based on our numbers as opposed to um you know group area averages or state

2:16:13averages or you know conglomerate numbers but just rather specifically El Cerrito it was it was interesting but um I one of the um I just wasn't quite sure how much of it was us and how much of it wasn't us so um and and I know that uh mayor Lyman was there and I don't know if he would

2:16:36agree with that uh yeah there I may have some specific questions uh to add to that that staff might be able to research for us in the future okay so I'll leave it at that that's it councilman uh Planning Commission met I already spoke about their discussion on the temporary use

2:16:54permit issue they also heard from staff on the climate action plan that's going to come before them at the next month and a member of the eqc came and gave a little presentation about what the eqc has done in terms of public Outreach so I like to see that interaction between

2:17:08our commission members coming and meeting one another that's my whole update great uh I want to uh invite the public to attend a reception uh local artist Doug Wagner has an exhibit in our city hall Gallery space and on Saturday from 1 to 3 P.M there'll be a reception

2:17:28great um as uh mayor Pro tem Abelson said I did attend the league of cities uh meeting on March 28th and the specific question that I would love to have staff research is what is El Cerrito's unfunded liability because that certainly was the the point of this guy or the pointed portion of the

2:17:50discussion on uh also on that day May March 28th I attended the West County mayor's meeting and the city of San Pablo was proud to announce that they have formed the San Pablo Economic Development Corporation which is effectively similar to our Municipal Services Corporation that will

2:18:09be meeting after us so that's their uh follow-on entity to take care of their Redevelopment issues um we had a presentation from a homeless Services organization by the name of saffron strand which is offering re-entry uh services to homeless for re-entry into the workforce and they're

2:18:35doing some pretty amazing things and they're having a conference uh in June and I'll come back with some more details on that uh regarding the saffron strand conference that they're holding June 16th and 17th I'd like to direct your attention to our package we also

2:18:54discussed the upcoming County mayor's conference a selection and I do want to emphasize that uh in June 30th we have eight positions expiring um four a bag positions and four East Bay Economic Development Alliance executive committee uh memberships are all expiring on June 30th and as part of

2:19:25our discussion that as the West County Mayors we're we've noticed a significant shortage of representation on our behalf and I am trying to encourage people to look at positions that would interest them and come forward as as volunteers so if anyone wants to volunteer tonight

2:19:47you can but if not tonight please soon um if obviously if it's expiring on June 30th I would expect that this is something that we will be voting on at the mayor's conference in one of our upcoming meetings not this Thursday it won't be covered this Thursday but my I guess it will be

2:20:06covered in either the May or June meetings and so I would like to take any any names forward to the West County mayor's conference at the end of April so that we potentially can build consensus with those five cities and um also if if you do come forward as a volunteer that we would I would help you

2:20:29craft letters um to other Mayors and help you call I think councilmember Abelson will also help us reach out to other mayors that we can get enough votes to get us some West County representation that concludes my report on item eight I believe that do we have an item nine I

2:20:50think it's adjournment right uh this regular meeting will be adjourned at this time immediately following this meeting is a meeting of the municipal Services Corporation the next regularly scheduled meeting for the city council is Tuesday April 16th at 7 pm here at city council chambers with

2:21:11that we are