Special and Regular City Council Meetings April 2, 2019

0:08:05the meeting is called the order

0:08:08will you please call the roll

0:08:10council member fidelity

0:08:12here for tim lyman president

0:08:15mayor pardue okimoto president council

0:08:18member abelson

0:08:19president councilmember quinto

0:08:23all right now we will have the pledge of

0:08:24allegiance led by councilmember quinto

0:08:29i pledge allegiance to the flag of the

0:08:32united states of america and to the

0:08:34republic for which it stands one nation

0:08:38under god indivisible with liberty and

0:08:41justice for all

0:08:48thank you

0:08:50we started a little bit

0:08:52after time today because we had closed

0:08:54session and there are no reports out

0:08:56from our closed session

0:08:59and next do we have any

0:09:00um

0:09:02we didn't have we had um interviews

0:09:05interviews not closed right

0:09:25my apologies

0:09:26okay

0:09:27so next we have um communications from

0:09:30the staff

0:09:33okay and communications from council

0:09:37oh yeah i've got someone go ahead on

0:09:40i've gone to say the same one that i've

0:09:42said for a while although we did uh do

0:09:44interviews tonight we are interviewing

0:09:46currently for the human relations

0:09:47commission in the civil and the civil

0:09:50service commission

0:09:52um but we do have vacancies in the park

0:09:54and rec uh commission uh which obviously

0:09:58we're going through the park and rec

0:09:59master plan this evening later but

0:10:02uh the park and rec uh commission does

0:10:04have a vacancy along with

0:10:06three committees and for committees you

0:10:08attend uh three meetings and then and

0:10:11then say you want to join and then uh

0:10:13the committee will uh

0:10:16vote whether to promote you to a consent

0:10:18calendar the committees that need

0:10:20people right now are

0:10:23the

0:10:24urban

0:10:25forest committee is that the new name

0:10:27the urban forest committee the

0:10:31economic development committee and the

0:10:32crime prevention committee so if you're

0:10:34interested in any of those three please

0:10:37submit an application to the city clerk

0:10:41council member abelson i have several

0:10:43things

0:10:45first of all i'd like to mention um that

0:10:48both

0:10:49council member quinto and i attended the

0:10:54luncheon

0:10:55by

0:10:56the

0:10:57east bay mud

0:11:00particularly for the

0:11:02area covered by

0:11:05andy katz

0:11:07with that organization and it was really

0:11:10interesting this year and i've attended

0:11:12that most years for a number of years

0:11:15because i've been really concerned about

0:11:17the drought

0:11:19and

0:11:20you know we've always gotten the update

0:11:22on the drought and how bad it is and so

0:11:24forth

0:11:25but this year

0:11:27that's not true we actually have plenty

0:11:30of water

0:11:32which is just you know

0:11:34sort of like a

0:11:35miracle you might say

0:11:37i wouldn't hold my breath too long

0:11:39because the other statement that i heard

0:11:42there was that

0:11:43this can be immediately followed by a

0:11:46year of drought so

0:11:48that things are looking really good as

0:11:51we all might have expected just based on

0:11:53the amount of rain we've been having so

0:11:57that's a

0:11:58a really good thing and

0:12:01it was

0:12:03stated at that meeting

0:12:05that

0:12:07you know a lot of

0:12:08the stuff about the climate is that it's

0:12:10very

0:12:12um

0:12:13you know it's extreme weather conditions

0:12:15is really what's going on

0:12:17and so it can be extreme drought or

0:12:19extreme

0:12:20uh rain um and it's all about the same

0:12:24thing so anyway but right now um

0:12:28things are in good shape in terms of uh

0:12:30having enough water

0:12:32um

0:12:34for the purposes we need it for and i

0:12:37also attended the last meeting of the

0:12:39chamber

0:12:40of commerce where we had a really

0:12:42interesting

0:12:43presentation on a very dry subject

0:12:47and it was an insurance checklist for

0:12:50business owners so

0:12:55i always try to go to some of these

0:12:56things because i figure

0:12:58you i might learn something and i i in

0:13:01fact did learn a number of things

0:13:04um and i got this sheet

0:13:07uh from it and i thought i would give it

0:13:09to the city clerk who could maybe put it

0:13:12uh in our um

0:13:15the packet that go

0:13:16where the public can see it

0:13:18because i thought it might be of

0:13:20interest

0:13:22to everybody

0:13:25you know i'll leave it to them to decide

0:13:27but um

0:13:28and

0:13:30i also attended

0:13:32the policy committee meetings that were

0:13:35held last

0:13:38thursday and friday of the league of

0:13:40california cities

0:13:42i sit on two policy committees

0:13:45housing

0:13:46which is a you know as we all know is a

0:13:48very busy year this year for

0:13:50housing and then i also sit on community

0:13:53services

0:13:54which is every covers everything from

0:13:56prisons to child care

0:13:59um so it basically covers the sorts of

0:14:02things you might hear

0:14:04where the last word in the what it is is

0:14:07described as services

0:14:08that's kind of what

0:14:10uh that policy committee does and it's

0:14:13they're both really interesting

0:14:16what was going on more than anything i

0:14:18think in housing

0:14:21is

0:14:22that there are

0:14:24an extremely large number of bills being

0:14:27proposed by members of the legislature

0:14:30on the topic of housing this year

0:14:33and we don't really know yet

0:14:36at this point in the pros two-year

0:14:38process

0:14:39which bills are going to be the ones

0:14:41that

0:14:42kind of become the

0:14:46ones that get enacted um because there's

0:14:48just so many of them

0:14:50so um

0:14:53we

0:14:54were

0:14:57that's that's basically what they said

0:14:59um and um

0:15:01but the topics of those pieces of

0:15:05legislation were basically the same

0:15:07topics that we've been talking about

0:15:09here

0:15:10um so that i think is the

0:15:14main

0:15:16takeaway at this very early stage in the

0:15:18legislative process

0:15:22and

0:15:24the um

0:15:28we had a

0:15:29speaker

0:15:31on the community services committee

0:15:35we had a speaker who was the

0:15:37[Music]

0:15:39mayor of

0:15:41the city of costa mesa costa mesa was

0:15:44the city that we were holding this

0:15:46meeting in

0:15:47and for those of you who might not know

0:15:48where that is it's somewhere vaguely

0:15:50near the orange county airport

0:15:54and that's all i could tell you about

0:15:56where it is but

0:15:59the

0:16:01speaker spoke spoke about homelessness

0:16:04and what they were doing in

0:16:06there to

0:16:09solve the problem and it was really

0:16:12interesting it was very different than

0:16:14anything i've heard anywhere else this

0:16:16is a program that they hadn't yet

0:16:18started but they were about to start

0:16:21and what happened and i don't understand

0:16:24all of the details but

0:16:26is that i believe they were sued

0:16:30because they

0:16:32appeared to be um

0:16:37uh

0:16:39i'm trying to think of the right way to

0:16:40say it

0:16:44in one way or another encouraging people

0:16:47who were there and homeless to go to

0:16:49another place

0:16:50they were just you know they were in

0:16:52rather than providing services for them

0:16:54they were

0:16:56trying to get rid of them

0:16:58and um

0:17:00so they were under uh court orders to do

0:17:04various things

0:17:06and that's what was really interesting

0:17:08and they were

0:17:10spending

0:17:12millions and millions and millions of

0:17:14dollars now this is a city much larger

0:17:16than el cerrito so

0:17:18the numbers the dollar signs don't

0:17:20really compare of course but um

0:17:23it was uh early amazing some of the

0:17:27things that they were

0:17:30doing they you know they were creating

0:17:33um

0:17:35living accommodations for them they were

0:17:38um

0:17:40basically creating all the services that

0:17:42they needed and um

0:17:44so the the message they had was that you

0:17:48shouldn't just ignore it um

0:17:51that uh in fact you need to

0:17:54have a plan

0:17:56for

0:17:57uh

0:17:58excuse me

0:18:00uh taking care of of the uh people

0:18:04not just the situation by getting rid of

0:18:07the people so

0:18:08uh i think that's um

0:18:10a real fast way of saying what they were

0:18:13talking about

0:18:14and

0:18:15the people at the meeting i think were

0:18:17really moved by what they presented

0:18:20and um it was completely a different

0:18:22kind of presentation that i had heard

0:18:25from any place else but

0:18:28that was what it was and

0:18:31with that i will stop talking

0:18:34council member quinto thank you mayor

0:18:36i also attended

0:18:39the league meetings in

0:18:41orange county and costa mesa i am on the

0:18:43environmental committee and uh

0:18:46same things that we're we're talking uh

0:18:49recycling

0:18:51for most of

0:18:52the meeting it dealt with recycling and

0:18:56dealing with

0:18:58making sure

0:18:59residents have clean water in california

0:19:02right now there are over a million

0:19:04residents in california that do not have

0:19:07access

0:19:08to

0:19:08fresh and clean water so

0:19:12there is

0:19:13a couple of things that legislators are

0:19:16working on

0:19:17uh in sacramento

0:19:20there's a bill sb669

0:19:23which is a

0:19:24water tran uh trust fund

0:19:28and it seems like the league will be

0:19:30supporting sp 669

0:19:32so

0:19:33that there is also a water tax

0:19:37trailer bill

0:19:39that

0:19:40was originally

0:19:42sb 623

0:19:44senator moning's bill for 2017

0:19:47and the governor is supporting that bill

0:19:50and uh in today's meeting that i

0:19:53attended with council member abelson

0:19:55uh our director here andy katz uh uh

0:19:59said that uh he will be supporting

0:20:01future legislation uh dealing with uh

0:20:04communities throughout the state of

0:20:07california that don't have

0:20:09access to clean water and you'll be

0:20:12surprised

0:20:13i was so surprised to see

0:20:16many areas in california even in the los

0:20:18angeles area that don't have access that

0:20:21still use well water

0:20:23in

0:20:24parts of east los angeles county so to

0:20:27see that and to hear what

0:20:31our colleagues in the central valley

0:20:33have to deal with with dealing with

0:20:35pesticides and dealing with fracking

0:20:37fluid

0:20:38that is being used to

0:20:41water oranges

0:20:43uh in in that part of kern county so

0:20:46it was quite an eye-opening experience

0:20:49after the meeting

0:20:51in orange county i drove to long beach

0:20:54where i uh

0:20:55had the honor to speak at

0:20:58a water conference

0:21:00which was

0:21:03hosted by the latino caucus of the

0:21:06league of california cities

0:21:08as president of the api caucus

0:21:11we co-sponsored that event and to

0:21:15we had

0:21:16a lot of folks from up and down the

0:21:18state that attended this

0:21:20um especially we did have folks from

0:21:24the eastern part of contra costa county

0:21:26and alameda county so that was

0:21:30an amazing meeting and

0:21:32i encouraged my colleagues here on the

0:21:34council to attend that training

0:21:37and

0:21:39director katz took that training as well

0:21:41and

0:21:43it is available

0:21:45for elected officials in california to

0:21:47participate

0:21:49and

0:21:52again attending

0:21:55the meeting with councilmember abelson

0:21:57with andy katz

0:21:59it was uh

0:22:01great to hear

0:22:02the update what they are dealing with

0:22:05and

0:22:06i am hoping that they will

0:22:08finally bring that pipe that ends in

0:22:10albany uh for uh potable non-portable

0:22:13water that we can use

0:22:15uh for landscaping here in el cerrito in

0:22:17the future and i've been pushing that

0:22:19for years and uh and they say

0:22:22it could happen sometime but i'm still

0:22:24waiting so uh i'll be pushing that

0:22:28this year as well thank you man

0:22:30councilmember abelson has a quick

0:22:32announcement on tuesday yes thank you um

0:22:34i just want to mention that earth day is

0:22:36almost here for el cerrito we're doing

0:22:38it a little bit early this year

0:22:41so as not to conflict with any other

0:22:43activities

0:22:44on the 13th of april which is a saturday

0:22:50from 9 to noon and then we will be

0:22:53providing a

0:22:54free lunch for

0:22:56people and their families who volunteer

0:22:58if you're interested in

0:23:00participating and haven't yet signed up

0:23:03you can go to the website earth day

0:23:06at ci

0:23:08dot el

0:23:10dash cerrito

0:23:12dot ca dot u s

0:23:15and um

0:23:16just leave a message saying you're

0:23:18interested and and you'll get a phone

0:23:20call thank you

0:23:24councilmember fidelity yes

0:23:26i was pleased to attend two arbor day

0:23:29events in el salvado along with

0:23:32councilman quinto

0:23:33the second one we planted a tree at

0:23:35poinsett park

0:23:37a dogwood so go visit that it should be

0:23:39flowering over the years

0:23:41i also attended the league of california

0:23:43city's policy committee i'm on the

0:23:45transportation and puc committee

0:23:48one of the issues that's interesting we

0:23:50talked about is some of the

0:23:51legislation in sacramento that are

0:23:54hoping to get all of our automobiles off

0:23:56the road by a certain deadline for

0:23:58greenhouse gases would take away

0:24:01sb1 funds gas tax money pays for all the

0:24:04programs for our roads so how do we

0:24:06where do we find a replacement

0:24:08for that money is an issue we dealt with

0:24:10and finally i'm

0:24:12going to be attending the

0:24:13rosie the riveter foundation dinner at

0:24:16the berkeley country club uh this

0:24:18saturday it's a good

0:24:20history

0:24:21centerpiece of our

0:24:22west county and uh

0:24:24it's fun so thank you

0:24:28so we'll be hearing more tonight from

0:24:30our

0:24:31parks and rec department but i was able

0:24:33to attend a meeting this last week and i

0:24:37wanted to report back from the parks and

0:24:39recreation commission while everyone's

0:24:41here and listening that they will have

0:24:44their two meetings um

0:24:47in may and june

0:24:49will the may meeting will be in

0:24:51arlington park and the june meeting will

0:24:54be in

0:24:55at canyon trail park and uh the

0:24:58commission invites all residents to come

0:25:01and and check out the commission and see

0:25:03what's going on with parks and rec and

0:25:04we'll be hearing more about that tonight

0:25:07in addition i attended um

0:25:10and chaired the west county mayor's

0:25:12meeting we had a presentation from ac

0:25:15transit

0:25:16as well as wescat

0:25:18and we

0:25:20so we heard a lot about our local

0:25:23bus transportation

0:25:25in this area

0:25:27in addition

0:25:28we had a presentation from the

0:25:31northern california hospital council

0:25:34in regards to the closure of doctors

0:25:37hospital

0:25:38and reading their report was really like

0:25:41reading

0:25:43the report of a code blue that had gone

0:25:45bad

0:25:47it was just you know

0:25:49page after page of

0:25:51ways in which the hospital had

0:25:54tried and tried and tried again to stay

0:25:57open and

0:25:58the various partners that they looked

0:26:00for to help hopefully keep them open and

0:26:03how

0:26:03um despite all the various taxes that

0:26:06were passed despite all the

0:26:10partners that they reached out to such

0:26:12as stanford ucsf the county there was no

0:26:15one that was willing to step in

0:26:17as the final report showed a loss of 20

0:26:21million dollars per year and nobody

0:26:23wanted to come in and partner

0:26:25with the hospital with the ongoing loss

0:26:27of 20 million per year

0:26:31the proposal of a standalone emergency

0:26:34department which is illegal in

0:26:35california would also would have

0:26:37operated at a loss of 15 million dollars

0:26:40per year so that wasn't much better and

0:26:43greatly reduced services to the

0:26:44community

0:26:46they reached out to the veterans

0:26:48administration they reached out to

0:26:50the california endowment of san

0:26:52francisco they reached out

0:26:55to anyone that would partner with them

0:26:59the state propped them up with three

0:27:00million dollars

0:27:02at the very end there and there was just

0:27:05um

0:27:06there was just nothing that was able to

0:27:09keep the hospital open um

0:27:12but i think that one of the things that

0:27:14we got clarified from the hospital

0:27:16association

0:27:17was not that the hospital or i'm sorry

0:27:19the hospital council was not that they

0:27:22had said that the hospital should close

0:27:26nor that no other hospital should

0:27:29partner with them but when they did

0:27:30their independent survey

0:27:33there were no hospitals that were

0:27:35willing to take that kind of financial

0:27:37loss

0:27:38so

0:27:39we are going to continue to explore this

0:27:42issue at the west county mayor's meeting

0:27:45in terms of

0:27:46thinking about the future and what we

0:27:48can do to provide another hospital for

0:27:50this area in the future

0:27:52but at this point with the current payer

0:27:54mix of this area

0:27:5668 cents on the dollar medi-cal

0:27:58reimbursement rates and 77 cents

0:28:01reimbursement rate for medicare

0:28:05there are no

0:28:06current hospital assist

0:28:09hospital

0:28:12entities that want to come into west

0:28:15county and how can we battle that so

0:28:18that is my report for that

0:28:20thank you very much

0:28:21is there anything further councilmember

0:28:23lyman

0:28:24okay

0:28:26all right so

0:28:28moving on to hopefully sunnier things

0:28:32our

0:28:33reports tonight

0:28:35we will move on to oral communication

0:28:39from the public

0:28:41at this time anyone's

0:28:42wishing to speak should complete their

0:28:45speaker card and submit it to the city

0:28:47clerk remarks are typically limited to

0:28:50three minutes

0:28:51we may reduce that amount of time

0:28:53depending on the number of speakers

0:28:56comments regarding non-agenda and

0:28:59consent calendar items will be heard

0:29:01first

0:29:02comments related to other agenda items

0:29:04will be heard at the time the city

0:29:06council deliberates on the item

0:29:09when you come forward please state your

0:29:11name

0:29:12and the city of residence for the record

0:29:16who are our speakers tonight

0:29:18our first three speakers tonight are

0:29:20david dave weinstein followed by paul

0:29:22duncan and scott perry

0:29:29hello council and uh mayor i'm dave

0:29:31weinstein el cerrito el cerrito trail

0:29:33trekkers i'm just here to briefly

0:29:35announce that we are having the hillside

0:29:37festival one month from today

0:29:40and it should be a really good one i'd

0:29:42like to thank

0:29:43uh the city through the environmental

0:29:45quality committee for funding this event

0:29:48fifteen hundred dollars and hopefully

0:29:49we'll make a little bit of money to help

0:29:51pay for hillside maintenance we have a

0:29:54lot of interesting events this year a

0:29:55lot of people talk about the hillside

0:29:57but a surprising number of people in

0:29:59town have never really been there or

0:30:01don't go there very often this is a very

0:30:03good time to go there learn about

0:30:04geology plants we have a lot of family

0:30:07events lots of attention paid to fire

0:30:10dave gibson the fire marshal will be

0:30:11leading a really interesting uh walk and

0:30:13talk about fire prevention what the city

0:30:15does and maybe what it should do and

0:30:17what other people can do for fire safety

0:30:20in the hillside so i hope to see you all

0:30:22at the hillside festival two and a half

0:30:25days of events thank you

0:30:27thank you

0:30:28next speaker is paul duncan followed by

0:30:30scott perry

0:30:34good evening i'm paul duncan el cerrito

0:30:37uh i just want to remind all of the city

0:30:39officials that uh we've been trying to

0:30:42get rid of huge eucalyptus trees but

0:30:44there are laws on the books right now

0:30:46that are accepted prohibiting the

0:30:47planting of new eucalyptus trees and

0:30:51there's several lots in el cerrito where

0:30:54there are newly planted eucalyptus trees

0:30:57many

0:30:58separate people have notified separate

0:31:00city officials that these things exist

0:31:03and i imagine that maybe there's letters

0:31:06written but month after month we will go

0:31:08past these young eucalyptus trees and

0:31:10they're getting bigger and bigger so

0:31:12seems to me if we've got laws on the

0:31:14books we ought to figure out a way to

0:31:16enforce them more expeditiously that's

0:31:19all i want to say right now thank you

0:31:22thank you

0:31:23next speaker is scott perry followed by

0:31:25diane strauss

0:31:31good evening council

0:31:34i have a couple of comments to say about

0:31:37uh el cerrito has two natural disasters

0:31:40to prepare for

0:31:42one is earthquakes and i think we've

0:31:44done a pretty good job at preparing for

0:31:46earthquakes in our cities nice building

0:31:49built to new standards

0:31:51the high school i went to was torn down

0:31:52and rebuilt to new standards the middle

0:31:55school i went to was torn down and re

0:31:57relocated to a new standard our old el

0:32:01cerrito plaza was torn down and rebuilt

0:32:03to new standards so

0:32:05in terms of of earthquakes being a

0:32:07natural disaster we've done a pretty

0:32:09good job i think

0:32:10the other natural disaster we face is a

0:32:13fire event

0:32:14driven by a diablo wind from the east

0:32:18this is not a disaster we're at all

0:32:20prepared for and it we suffer much

0:32:22greater consequences should we get into

0:32:25that situation

0:32:29if a diablo wind event does happen

0:32:32this city will burn

0:32:34it our depart fire department will not

0:32:36put it out until the wind changes we

0:32:38will burn to the ground we will burn to

0:32:40the bay we need to be prepared for this

0:32:43and our preparations

0:32:46should include

0:32:48the fact that a diablo wind event

0:32:51firestorm has three components it

0:32:53requires wind it requires terrain and it

0:32:56requires fuel we cannot control wind we

0:32:59cannot control terrain but we can

0:33:01control the fuel and the fuel

0:33:03is the responsibility of the city and is

0:33:06also the responsibility of the residents

0:33:12we need to remove highly flammable

0:33:14eucalyptus groves in our city

0:33:16we need to enforce vegetation codes

0:33:18especially roadway setbacks to clear and

0:33:21to clear vegetation from power poles and

0:33:23communication lines

0:33:25this is this is the only aspect that we

0:33:28can control and prepare for it is not a

0:33:31lot to expect from the city and it is

0:33:33not a lot to expect from our neighbors

0:33:35the city must set an example by removing

0:33:38the hazardous trees

0:33:39and the residents must comply with

0:33:41vegetation codes

0:33:43we must all do our part before next

0:33:44september

0:33:46please take the steps and follow gavin

0:33:49newsom's

0:33:51courageous

0:33:52stand and declare our city a nation a

0:33:55state of emergency so that we can

0:33:58expedite removal of hazardous trees

0:34:01hazardous conditions

0:34:02expedite our condition to get to become

0:34:06more prepared

0:34:08it's imperative

0:34:10thank you very much thank you

0:34:13next speaker is diane strauss followed

0:34:15by philip zimmerman

0:34:22good evening

0:34:23i'm diane strauss i live in el cerrito

0:34:26and i'm involved with

0:34:28keep el cerrito fire safe again it's so

0:34:31important

0:34:32and i want to stress again that we do

0:34:34have ordinances in place and they're

0:34:35just not enforced

0:34:37um we have ordinances that say that

0:34:39overhanging vegetation has to be three

0:34:42feet

0:34:42some of them may say six i'm not sure

0:34:44away from the roadways um they have to

0:34:47be away from uh and dead dying trees are

0:34:50to be removed

0:34:51they should be at least away from

0:34:54the homes as well and not have trees

0:34:56that lean over onto people's homes and

0:35:00and the problem is that some of this is

0:35:01private property and i think that causes

0:35:03a conundrum

0:35:05um but for example that huge eucalyptus

0:35:07that's on moser just west um

0:35:11west of where shevlin is it's just down

0:35:13the hill there

0:35:14that thing

0:35:15is so huge and in a fire it would just

0:35:18fall and our major escape route would be

0:35:21blocked

0:35:22so i know it's on private property um

0:35:26so i think we need to have the

0:35:27ordinances that are in place

0:35:29enforced

0:35:30give them some teeth

0:35:32so that we can all be safe thank you

0:35:35thank you

0:35:36the next speaker is phillip zimmerman

0:35:37followed by sherry dropner

0:35:42good evening i'm phil zimmerman i live

0:35:43in kensington uh i went to the urban

0:35:46forest uh meeting on uh sunday and i

0:35:50thought it was particularly worthwhile

0:35:53and i encourage you to

0:35:55support more of those

0:35:57they could have fit more people in there

0:35:59and i found it very informative and it

0:36:01kind of fired me up a little bit i'll

0:36:03give you an example of that i volunteer

0:36:04at camp herms

0:36:06in the landscaping not as a an expert in

0:36:09any sense but as a

0:36:10enthusiast and one of the personal

0:36:14goals i have there is to not let little

0:36:17yokes become big ones i kill them when i

0:36:19can

0:36:22my subject tonight are polarization of

0:36:24the voters and unfunded mandates

0:36:27people vote their resentments long after

0:36:30they stop voting their gratitude

0:36:33i conducted my own informal survey among

0:36:36all the el cerrito homeowners i know i

0:36:39asked them

0:36:41would you like the option of sometime in

0:36:43the future to rent out your or all or

0:36:46part of your home without undue

0:36:48government interference that is rent

0:36:50control their unanimous response was yes

0:36:56we're talking about polarization here

0:36:59there are far more el cerrito voters

0:37:01that live in single-family

0:37:03owner-occupied homes than voters who

0:37:05live in rentals will that change soon

0:37:08doubtful maybe never what i mean is

0:37:10who's in control by numbers

0:37:14i had dinner recently with a senior city

0:37:16planner in merced who grew up in el

0:37:18cerrito i told him i had lived in

0:37:20berkeley running up to and after rent

0:37:22control was voted into place there and

0:37:25that it dominated every subsequent city

0:37:27council election like no other issue

0:37:31he replied that he had seen the same

0:37:33sort of thing elsewhere

0:37:36he noted that the state has passed

0:37:37several measures requiring local

0:37:39governments to address affordable

0:37:41housing

0:37:42i asked him what is the enforcement

0:37:44mechanism

0:37:45he replied that the state government

0:37:48can't really do very much but if local

0:37:49governments don't comply except

0:37:53to perhaps choose a few to make an

0:37:55example of by withholding funds

0:37:57primarily highway related that's

0:37:59probably a simplistic view of that but

0:38:03i i whenever i hear that sort of thing

0:38:06especially with unfunded mandates i

0:38:08think to myself how are they going to

0:38:09make you do that

0:38:13uh

0:38:14he said also that el cerrito wasn't

0:38:16likely to be a target of such coercion

0:38:18because there really isn't very much

0:38:20vacant land here in other words it isn't

0:38:22a particularly egregious target even if

0:38:25you do nothing

0:38:27well i want to speak very briefly about

0:38:30what i think is not very smart about

0:38:32rent control and that is how it divides

0:38:35the citizens among each other i saw how

0:38:37things changed in berkeley when i lived

0:38:39there from before to after

0:38:41uh

0:38:42anyway you know what it's like

0:38:44the uh well we've heard some folks here

0:38:46for your comments

0:38:48right your time is up thank you thank

0:38:50you very much

0:38:51and the last speaker is sherry dromner

0:38:58hi i'm sherry drovener i live in el

0:38:59cerrito and that's actually a good segue

0:39:02i want to tell you tonight or give an

0:39:04announcement about a tenants rights

0:39:07clinic that will be hosted by el cerrito

0:39:10progressives

0:39:11and tenants together wednesday april

0:39:1324th from 6 to 8 pm

0:39:16and i'll send information out to city

0:39:19offices

0:39:20and if it's possible to

0:39:22put that

0:39:24on a website or or at least give the

0:39:25information out for those renters who

0:39:28call up seeking relief from their

0:39:31situation

0:39:33the information will be available so i

0:39:35just wanted to give that announcement

0:39:37out now thank you

0:39:38thank you

0:39:50that was the last one okay

0:40:01next we have the adoption of the consent

0:40:03calendar

0:40:05of adoption of the consent calendar oh

0:40:07i'm sorry

0:40:09i'm sorry got it said it too fast

0:40:11i will read it

0:40:13okay a approval of minutes

0:40:17b

0:40:18earth day proclamation

0:40:20c

0:40:21national library week proclamation

0:40:24the

0:40:252020

0:40:26census support proclamation

0:40:29e 2019 west contra costa counties a

0:40:32regional transportation mitigation

0:40:34program fee

0:40:37f annual parcel assessment for the

0:40:40national pollution discharge elimination

0:40:43system

0:40:44program and drainage maintenance

0:40:46activities

0:40:48for fiscal year 2019

0:40:51to 2020

0:40:53g

0:40:54accept engineers report for fiscal year

0:40:572019 to 20

0:41:00order improvements and set public

0:41:03hearing for landscape and lighting

0:41:06assessment district number

0:41:081988-1

0:41:10h

0:41:12calendar years 2016 and 2017

0:41:16growth management program compliance

0:41:18checklist i final parcel map

0:41:22for one lot subdivision at

0:41:25one zero three zero zero san pablo

0:41:28avenue mayor if i may

0:41:30um i i will

0:41:32yield the the motion to i will yield the

0:41:36motion to miss abelson as long as uh

0:41:38miss abelson you you acknowledge that we

0:41:40actually have a revised uh item for 4g

0:41:45um which is the landscape lighting and

0:41:46assessment district which the revised

0:41:50one does recognize that we have more

0:41:52developed lots and therefore the

0:41:54landscape lighting is sorry that

0:41:57you know the landscape lighting and

0:41:58assessment district uh went up slightly

0:42:01since you were so kind as to include the

0:42:03details i will certainly do that

0:42:06all right

0:42:07do we have a second whole second

0:42:10all in favor

0:42:11aye

0:42:12those opposed

0:42:14motion carries and with that and america

0:42:17can i just make a comment on the consent

0:42:19calendar yes i just wanted to

0:42:21make a point about uh the minutes for

0:42:24our

0:42:25our city and i'm kind of a transparency

0:42:28guy and i've

0:42:29just want to say that it's an important

0:42:31document for the city to to see what our

0:42:34citizens say to us and ask of us and

0:42:36what the motions that our city council

0:42:39make and i've communicated with city

0:42:41staff about both of our goals to keep

0:42:43these transparent i've had concerns that

0:42:45some of the comments from the city have

0:42:47gone more generic

0:42:49and haven't been as specific as i would

0:42:51have liked

0:42:52and that the motions listed in our

0:42:54minute should say which

0:42:56council person is actually making the

0:42:58motion in an easy to read form the city

0:43:00staff has done a great job on on the

0:43:03minutes and trying to evolve to a

0:43:05more transparent place and i applaud

0:43:07that and i look forward to talking with

0:43:09them more about that in the future so

0:43:11thank you

0:43:13thank you

0:43:14and tonight we have uh two proclamations

0:43:18where we have

0:43:19people present to accept the

0:43:20proclamation so

0:43:22may we see maria sanders our division

0:43:25manager and will provost management

0:43:27analyst for the earth day proclamation

0:43:40and would you like to say some words

0:43:43sure okay yes so earth day as a couple

0:43:46of council members mentioned is april

0:43:4713th and we encourage you and the whole

0:43:49community to come out

0:43:50for the celebration uh it starts with

0:43:53the morning of volunteerism

0:43:55starting all around el cerrito

0:43:57if you haven't signed up you can reach

0:43:58out to earthday ci dot

0:44:00eldascerrito.ca.us

0:44:03or you can feel free to just show up to

0:44:05the community center at 9am to get

0:44:07assigned to a work party

0:44:09it'll be followed by lunch at the

0:44:11community center and other activities

0:44:13from other volunteer groups and

0:44:14organizations so thank you and we look

0:44:16forward to

0:44:17showing up in the work

0:44:20parties okay

0:44:43that's right if we thought

0:44:45did we vote we voted yeah

0:44:47okay

0:44:49and in addition we also have is heidi

0:44:52goldstein present

0:44:53great

0:44:54please come forward would you like to

0:44:56say a few words also

0:44:59[Laughter]

0:45:01next item yeah okay all right well

0:45:04um

0:45:05then i'll save your words for the

0:45:07presentation and we'll i'll come go

0:45:09ahead and give you your proclamation

0:45:20all right

0:45:24[Laughter]

0:45:33thank you

0:45:48okay

0:45:51and don't go too far because next is our

0:45:53presentation

0:45:54the contra costa library system-wide

0:45:57report

0:45:58please come forward

0:46:14good evening mayor pardue okumoto el

0:46:17cerrito city council and attending

0:46:19citizens

0:46:21thank you for recently very recently

0:46:24proclaiming april 7th through 13th it's

0:46:27national library week here in el cerrito

0:46:29and i hope that this can be the

0:46:30beginning of a new annual tradition

0:46:33additionally thank you for giving me the

0:46:35opportunity to speak to you this evening

0:46:36about the el cerrito library

0:46:40nope

0:46:51sorry i'm doing two computers

0:46:53national library week is an observance

0:46:55first celebrated in 1958 and sponsored

0:46:58by the american library association each

0:47:01april libraries across the country

0:47:02celebrate the many ways that they

0:47:04contribute to building strong

0:47:05communities by providing critical

0:47:07resources programs and expertise

0:47:11libraries are the hearts of their cities

0:47:13they have public spaces where people of

0:47:14all backgrounds can come together and

0:47:16connect

0:47:17libraries transform lives every day from

0:47:20technology to job resources to materials

0:47:23for english language learners your

0:47:25library provides access to more more

0:47:27than ever to programming and services to

0:47:29ensure your community's needs are being

0:47:31met

0:47:34we are extremely excited about national

0:47:37library week and hope that you come join

0:47:38us in celebrating you can start by by

0:47:41liking both el cerrito library and

0:47:43contra costa county library on facebook

0:47:46you can also follow our fabulous

0:47:48instagram feed for different content

0:47:50you can get one of our amazing buttons

0:47:52which i have given already to the city

0:47:54council

0:47:56and you can so you can come in and get

0:47:58one of our buttons if you share one of

0:47:59our posts or tag us on facebook or

0:48:01instagram just come on into the library

0:48:03and show us your tag and you too can get

0:48:05a button

0:48:07fancy

0:48:08throughout the week of april 7th through

0:48:1013th we will be celebrating with themes

0:48:12including but not limited to national

0:48:15library workers day take action for

0:48:17libraries and celebrate your library

0:48:23i pandered a lot here

0:48:25we ask that you come on in during

0:48:27national library week and write us a

0:48:28note or draw us a picture that tells us

0:48:30why you love your library and then you

0:48:32will get a button but why do you love

0:48:34your library is it the read to a dog

0:48:36monday evenings or the monthly lego

0:48:38saturdays is it the tween book club the

0:48:41adult programming such as letter press

0:48:43printing or a poetry slam or one of our

0:48:46well-attended story times

0:48:49i like to think that is largely our

0:48:51competent and friendly staff who are

0:48:53never too busy to assist you either with

0:48:55research finding a book to read or using

0:48:57our growing assortment of digital

0:48:59resources and on-site materials

0:49:02frankly i don't know how you'd choose

0:49:06your full-service library card is free

0:49:09and allows you to borrow materials from

0:49:10all 26 community libraries of the contra

0:49:13costa county library in addition a full

0:49:15service library card provides you access

0:49:17to online resources internet access and

0:49:19more

0:49:20here are a few of my favorite online

0:49:22resources that are free with your

0:49:24library card brainfuse help now which is

0:49:27tutoring live tutoring for students of

0:49:29all ages lynda.com full online classes

0:49:32canopy streaming movies overdrive ebooks

0:49:36and e-audio books can be that can be

0:49:38accessed from anywhere with internet

0:49:39access and hundreds of newspapers with

0:49:42full color access including the east bay

0:49:44times and the new york times but not the

0:49:46crossword puzzles

0:49:49so i'm here to give you a little bit of

0:49:51a report about system-wide contra costa

0:49:53county library and also el cerrito

0:49:55library and so um beyond our digital

0:49:58resources contra costa county library

0:50:00provides in-person adult literacy

0:50:03education through our project second

0:50:05chance program

0:50:06last year we helped

0:50:08175 adults learn to read write and spell

0:50:11better

0:50:12if you are interested in learning to

0:50:14improve your literacy or become a

0:50:15volunteer tutor please contact us at the

0:50:17library

0:50:20and last year our exciting and

0:50:22beneficial program discover and go had

0:50:24an increase in usage of 23 percent

0:50:27discover and go is an awesome program

0:50:29culturally enriching that gives the

0:50:31residents of contra costa county free

0:50:33and discounted passes to museums and

0:50:35other events at numerous bay area venues

0:50:39our overall collections materials budget

0:50:41has increased by 58

0:50:43which is definitely illustrated by a 38

0:50:45increase in our ebook and e-audio book

0:50:48usage

0:50:512018 was a big year for el cerrito

0:50:54library thanks to this very city council

0:50:57april 1st 2018 marked the launch of us

0:50:59being open for seven days a week being

0:51:01given the opportunity to avail the

0:51:03community of the library every day of

0:51:05the week has been a tremendous gift it

0:51:07had a large impact on our program

0:51:08attendance material circulation and

0:51:10number of visitors overall

0:51:13during 2018 we were proud to host two

0:51:15large celebrations two story walks one

0:51:18amazing one city one book program

0:51:20reading the 57 bus an important shoe

0:51:23story that took place in oakland

0:51:25on average we received the library used

0:51:27to receive 50 60 people per hour when we

0:51:31were open five days a week and now that

0:51:33we've gone to seven days a week we get

0:51:3462 people

0:51:37per hour which is a consistent steady

0:51:39increase that shows just how necessary

0:51:41such a change was and i'm proud to say

0:51:43that our community loves our library

0:51:50had 10 different outreach events at

0:51:52local schools which included an ice

0:51:53cream social

0:51:55classroom visits science fair judging

0:51:57literacy night and dog visits these

0:52:00events reached over 800 students

0:52:03throughout the contra costa county

0:52:04library system there were 321 school

0:52:07visits with over 24 000 school children

0:52:09reached

0:52:13our circulation this so far this year

0:52:15fiscal year 2018 has increased by up to

0:52:1824 000 items uh sorry a 24

0:52:22which is up to 120 068 items

0:52:26we just in el cerrito alone we had 469

0:52:29new card holders and registrations which

0:52:31is a 50 increase over the previous year

0:52:34we're just going up pretty much

0:52:37over the last year attendance in our

0:52:38adult and children's programs has more

0:52:40than doubled and while we love these

0:52:42increases in numbers overall it compels

0:52:45me to consider how many additional

0:52:46people we could serve with more space in

0:52:49an updated facility each packed house

0:52:51event reminds me that we have reached

0:52:53the limits of our 70 year old building

0:52:59through assistance from both our friends

0:53:01of the el cerrito library and el cerrito

0:53:03library foundation we have been

0:53:05fortunate enough to have special events

0:53:07regularly including hometown hero

0:53:09magical nathaniel an afro-latin drumming

0:53:12workshop chinese brush brush painting

0:53:14instruction and a handmade book art

0:53:17presentation

0:53:21with regular events like our weekly read

0:53:23to a therapy dog program our bi-weekly

0:53:26story time helpful weekly esl

0:53:29conversation group weekly meditation our

0:53:32dynamic at new and popular mystery book

0:53:34club and so much more our little library

0:53:36is busy and utilized to its fullest

0:53:38capacity

0:53:40come by at the beginning of each month

0:53:41to get our updated events calendars or

0:53:44go to ccclib.org

0:53:47to view it online we have events for

0:53:49people of all ages and all interests and

0:53:52if you have

0:53:53if you have an interest and think that

0:53:54others might as well and think it's

0:53:56something that would suit the library

0:53:58just let us know

0:54:01and as i'm sure we're all aware summer

0:54:03is coming up fast

0:54:05lunch at the library is a terrific

0:54:07program that picks up where school lets

0:54:08off for student lunches during the

0:54:10summer

0:54:11last summer nine different branches

0:54:12throughout contra costa county

0:54:15uh served 6 118 lunches that number

0:54:18includes el cerrito and we served

0:54:21796 lunches three days a week for over

0:54:24two months

0:54:25our branches are planning fun fun

0:54:27activities and programs beginning with

0:54:28our all ages annual summer reading

0:54:30festival where you can track time spent

0:54:32reading track your summertime activities

0:54:34and earn prizes upon completion last

0:54:38year we had 7 000 78 participants in the

0:54:41summer reading festival system-wide

0:54:43374 of which were from el cerrito so we

0:54:46should kick that number up a little bit

0:54:48we will be having lunch at the library

0:54:50again this summer starting at 12 noon

0:54:52tuesdays wednesdays and thursdays from

0:54:54june 11th to august 8th for anyone under

0:54:57the age of 18. most days lunches will be

0:54:59followed by a nutritional activity

0:55:01scientific inquiry or just plain fun and

0:55:05you see mr john joya there

0:55:07reading a story so if anybody would like

0:55:09to come to our lunch in the library let

0:55:11me know

0:55:17el cerrito library was extremely

0:55:19fortunate to benefit from a trust

0:55:21bestowed by a kensington couple the late

0:55:23james deloach and eugene troy with funds

0:55:26from the trust and unanimous support

0:55:27from the community and the county we

0:55:30debuted the deloach and troy lgbt plus

0:55:32special collection the first of its kind

0:55:35in contra costa county

0:55:38we celebrated our very special special

0:55:40collection on september 4th with a party

0:55:43that included numerous special guests

0:55:45live music the first library drag queen

0:55:47story time of the county and activities

0:55:50for people of all ages

0:55:53we were even lucky enough to be visited

0:55:54by the delos and troy family who are

0:55:56thrilled that their uncles were being

0:55:58honored in such a fashion

0:56:02so far 2019 has been a big year for the

0:56:04county system wide as of january 1st the

0:56:06library has reduced all fines via our

0:56:09project equitable access campaign this

0:56:12has directly led to an increase in

0:56:14circulation here in el cerrito in

0:56:16january we had 10 percent increase and

0:56:18february 26 increase

0:56:20eliminating fines means removing

0:56:22barriers for our community and making

0:56:24access easy equitable and enjoyable for

0:56:26everyone our doors are open for the

0:56:29entire community to take advantage of

0:56:30all that the library has to offer ending

0:56:33the collection of overdue fines and fees

0:56:35has undoubtedly resulted in more

0:56:36positive interactions

0:56:40libraries are cornerstones of democracy

0:56:42promoting the free exchange of

0:56:44information and ideas for all

0:56:46they foster civic engagement by keeping

0:56:48people informed and aware of community

0:56:50events and issues and i'm truly honored

0:56:52that the city of el cerrito has

0:56:54proclaimed april 7th through the 13th as

0:56:56national library week and we are

0:56:58encouraging all residents to visit the

0:57:00library to take advantage of the

0:57:01wonderful library resources available

0:57:04and explore what's new and because of

0:57:06you libraries transform

0:57:09and this was made by one of our younger

0:57:12patrons and i believe that it really

0:57:14nicely reflects how the library

0:57:16nourishes our community thank you for

0:57:18your time and attention

0:57:20thank you thank you

0:57:22no questions councilmember fidelity

0:57:25no no questions i just

0:57:27want to compliment you heidi we had a

0:57:30public comment about

0:57:32everything that el cerrito has done

0:57:35to make us earthquake safe well we

0:57:36haven't done it at the library yet so we

0:57:38need to move forward to make sure that

0:57:40that's a big goal that we have here and

0:57:43i think you've demonstrated what a

0:57:45full spectrum all the services and

0:57:47programs you've provided what an

0:57:49important part of the community you are

0:57:51thank you and if oakley can open a new

0:57:53library

0:57:54in contra costa we have to be next okay

0:57:57thank you very much thank you very much

0:58:00johnsonvindo well

0:58:03i enjoyed reading to the kids that last

0:58:05summer and uh um and mayor you're going

0:58:09to enjoy this uh uh when it's your turn

0:58:12this coming summer and uh

0:58:15and to have lunch with

0:58:17uh our young children um they had a lot

0:58:19of fun and uh so i congratulate you and

0:58:23uh your colleagues at the el cerita

0:58:24library uh you're doing a fantastic job

0:58:27and

0:58:28meeting so many of the parents there

0:58:30that agree we need a new library uh so

0:58:35even folks that did not support the

0:58:37library measure

0:58:38last time uh are supporting uh

0:58:41our future library so we're gonna get it

0:58:44right this time and we're gonna win

0:58:48thank you man the only thing i would add

0:58:51to it it was that was a great

0:58:52presentation thank you very much done in

0:58:55a very uh

0:58:56uh different way and i really i just

0:58:59wanted to let you know that i thought it

0:59:01was fantastic that's excellent i've been

0:59:02working on it a lot so thank you

0:59:05you did a great job

0:59:07a question about the um could you

0:59:10elaborate a little more on the discover

0:59:12and go program

0:59:14sure

0:59:15i know so much about it what a good

0:59:16question

0:59:17um so it actually was started by contra

0:59:21costa county library

0:59:22and as long as you have a library card

0:59:25and you live in contra costa county

0:59:27and you're over 16 you can use it and so

0:59:30what it is basically is where you go on

0:59:32to our website and you connect to the

0:59:34discover and go link

0:59:36and then you pick a date i wouldn't

0:59:38recommend waking up in the morning and

0:59:40making that plan

0:59:42but then you pick a date maybe next

0:59:43saturday that you have everybody free

0:59:46and off and then you go down all the

0:59:48different venues that have available

0:59:51tickets for that date

0:59:53and they run the gamut from the train

0:59:56museum to freight and salvaged you know

0:59:59bar whatever it is

1:00:01and um

1:00:02to

1:00:04sf moma

1:00:05and academy of sciences and just all

1:00:08different kinds of things all over the

1:00:10whole including san jose and sacramento

1:00:12and all over discounted tickets

1:00:14they it varies depending on the venue so

1:00:17some venues are one free adult and a

1:00:19free child and then you pay for an adult

1:00:22sometimes it's everybody's free

1:00:24sometimes it's one kid is free or the

1:00:27tour is free or the tour is 50 off you

1:00:30just have to read the fine print of each

1:00:31section

1:00:32and it's just a great program overall

1:00:35okay thank you thank you for clarifying

1:00:36that i heard someone mention it and i

1:00:38just wasn't sure exactly what it what it

1:00:40was i'd be happy to give a demonstration

1:00:43okay great thank you very much welcome

1:00:45all right thank you for your

1:00:46presentation oh

1:00:48i think do we have any public speakers

1:00:50on this no we do not okay all right then

1:00:52thank you very much

1:00:57okay

1:01:03next we have our public hearing

1:01:06which is to

1:01:09adopt el cerrito parks and recreation

1:01:12facilities master plan and adopt initial

1:01:14study

1:01:16mitigated negative declaration and

1:01:18mitigation monitoring and reporting

1:01:20program

1:01:24so i have like a staff report please

1:01:32it's working

1:01:38good evening honorable mayor and council

1:01:40members i am chris jones your recreation

1:01:43director

1:01:44this evening staff is requesting that

1:01:46you conduct a public hearing and upon

1:01:48conclusion

1:01:49approve a resolution adopting the

1:01:51mitigated negative negative declaration

1:01:55m d

1:01:56and mitigation monitoring and reporting

1:01:58program mmrp

1:02:00and adopting the parks and recreation

1:02:02facilities master plan

1:02:05with the edits in the supplemental

1:02:06packet that has been provided this

1:02:08evening

1:02:10the supplemental packet includes

1:02:11comments received since the original

1:02:13agenda packet was published

1:02:15recommended changes by the park and

1:02:17recreation commission to protect a known

1:02:19cultural resource at one of the city's

1:02:21parks

1:02:22and changes to the mmrp

1:02:25that our consultant will discuss later

1:02:27in this presentation

1:02:29i am joined by your public works

1:02:31director yvette ortiz and other city

1:02:33staff

1:02:34as well as our master plan partners from

1:02:36rhaa

1:02:38principal barbara lundberg

1:02:41project manager lauren ivey

1:02:44as well as doug svenson from applied

1:02:46development economics and gene iceberg

1:02:48from lexington planning

1:02:58the agenda for tonight's presentation

1:03:00will touch briefly on the purpose and

1:03:02scope of the parks and recreation

1:03:03facilities master plan

1:03:05and then lauren will take you through

1:03:06the plan itself as a means to

1:03:08demonstrate how the master plan was

1:03:10developed and recommendations formed

1:03:13doug will explain the master plan's

1:03:15conceptual financing and implementation

1:03:17strategies and finally gene will discuss

1:03:20the mitigated negative declaration and

1:03:22the mmrp

1:03:24and we will end with questions and

1:03:26comments

1:03:30so purpose

1:03:32why did we undertake this comprehensive

1:03:34analysis of el cerritos parks and

1:03:36recreation facilities

1:03:38because parks make life better

1:03:41parks make life better especially with

1:03:43the recreational opportunities that you

1:03:45find in them

1:03:46from community and swim centers to

1:03:48playgrounds barbecue areas and the open

1:03:50spaces that facilitate organized and

1:03:52unstructured play

1:03:54hiking through nature or just finding a

1:03:56nice place to sit away from the hustle

1:03:58and bustle of your life

1:04:01parks and recreation facilities and

1:04:03programs promote physical emotional and

1:04:06mental health through fitness play and

1:04:08activity

1:04:10they are a place for people to engage

1:04:12the community through programs special

1:04:14events and new experiences

1:04:16they support youth development and

1:04:18lifelong learning to foster social

1:04:21intellectual physical and emotional

1:04:23growth in people of all ages and

1:04:26abilities

1:04:27parks are forever they protect our

1:04:30natural resources and connect people to

1:04:32nature

1:04:34parks strengthen our community identity

1:04:36and a sense of place by providing spaces

1:04:38and services that reflect and celebrate

1:04:41our character history aesthetics and

1:04:43landscape

1:04:45parks support safe vibrant attractive

1:04:47and walkable communities

1:04:50and parks and recreation are good for

1:04:51the economy they attract new businesses

1:04:54foster economic development

1:04:56promote revitalization

1:04:58provide jobs and generate revenue

1:05:00support the economic vitality of our

1:05:02community

1:05:08the scope of el cerritos parks and

1:05:09recreation facilities master plan

1:05:11includes an inventory and assessment of

1:05:13the community's existing recreation

1:05:15system

1:05:16community input gathering

1:05:18exploration of potential enhancement and

1:05:20expansion projects and priority setting

1:05:23the master plan looks at the

1:05:24significance maintenance

1:05:26excuse me significant maintenance and

1:05:28rehabilitation needs of the city's aging

1:05:31parks and recreation facilities

1:05:33with the intent to identify the

1:05:35necessary repairs and upgrades so that

1:05:37facilities will be substantially

1:05:39maintained in the future

1:05:42to help set priorities for improvements

1:05:44the plan also assesses community needs

1:05:46and recreation and enhancement

1:05:48opportunities and with that

1:05:51i'm going to go ahead and turn it over

1:05:52to lauren

1:05:54hi i'm lauren ivey

1:05:56with rha and i was the project manager

1:05:58for this master plan which we started

1:06:00almost two years ago

1:06:02this spring so

1:06:05we're going to walk you briefly through

1:06:07the chapters of the master plan and then

1:06:09have a larger discussion about its

1:06:10implementation

1:06:12in our executive summary this is a

1:06:14diagram showing you all the components

1:06:16that went into creating this master plan

1:06:18we reviewed a significant amount of

1:06:19existing a documents we were on site

1:06:22looking at the city's parks and

1:06:24facilities inventory doing a physical

1:06:26visual inventory

1:06:28we had an extensive community outreach

1:06:29process

1:06:31we studied the city's trends and

1:06:32demographics and this pushed us into

1:06:36how can we enhance the city of el

1:06:37cerrito what are our recommendations and

1:06:40priorities we work closely with doug ade

1:06:43for the financial evaluation and the

1:06:44final master plan

1:06:47our master plan had three community

1:06:49meetings we had really good attendance

1:06:52at all the community meetings we were

1:06:54led through a community advisory group

1:06:57who kind of acted as not only our guinea

1:06:59pigs and testing out our survey but also

1:07:01as our community leaders and ensuring

1:07:04that the process was true to what el

1:07:05cerrito wanted

1:07:07and we had a community-wide survey that

1:07:09got over 1100 responses that ran from

1:07:12september 2017 through 2000 january

1:07:162018.

1:07:18um a big part of our master planning

1:07:20process was to review all the existing

1:07:22relevant master planning documents that

1:07:25the city of el cerrito has already

1:07:26completed

1:07:28related to park and recreation parks we

1:07:30looked

1:07:32very much at the el cerrito strategic

1:07:33plan the illoni grenoble mastery plan

1:07:36and of course the urban greening plan

1:07:39regarding facilities we looked at the

1:07:41structural facilities management plan

1:07:44the existing landscape management plan

1:07:45and the ada transition plan and we

1:07:48wanted to make sure that the

1:07:49recommendations put forth in these

1:07:51existing plans were supported in this

1:07:54planning effort

1:07:57we did an extensive demographic profile

1:08:00of the community

1:08:02el cerrito was largely built out in the

1:08:041980s

1:08:06but it's expected to get to almost 30

1:08:08000

1:08:09by 2040.

1:08:11an incredibly dense community for the

1:08:13bay area

1:08:15with a slightly

1:08:16slightly lower median age of 43.8

1:08:20compared to other neighboring

1:08:21communities the biggest cohorts in the

1:08:24city of el cerrito are youth

1:08:26family forming adults boomers and older

1:08:28adults it's a highly educated community

1:08:32with some flexibility in their spending

1:08:33problem and their spending

1:08:36strategies for a small recreation

1:08:39department the city of el cerrito is

1:08:40incredibly efficient in terms of

1:08:43providing um

1:08:44an immense number of programs for every

1:08:46season that's over 500 recreation

1:08:48programs every season fall summer and

1:08:51spring these programs range from the

1:08:53city's aquatics programs to sports

1:08:56programming special events such as the

1:08:58july 4th festival

1:09:00and special programming oriented just to

1:09:02youth and just to adults or seniors

1:09:06the park system

1:09:08has about 175 acres of land

1:09:13that's 16 parks one greenway two special

1:09:16use areas and one undeveloped park 102

1:09:19acres of this parkland is dedicated just

1:09:21to open space and the city owns 155 of

1:09:25the acres while it maintains 20 acres

1:09:28that's owned by the

1:09:30west contra costa unified school

1:09:31district the city of richmond and bart

1:09:35some of the issues that we've seen in

1:09:39this inventory that we did of the city's

1:09:41park and recreation facility network is

1:09:43that they're all about 50 to 60 years

1:09:45old they have extensive deferred repair

1:09:47and maintenance issues they have

1:09:49incredibly active community use

1:09:52and though they are actively used they

1:09:54do have limited flexible programming

1:09:55space just by the their size and age

1:09:57alone

1:09:58but overall the city does an excellent

1:10:00job at maintaining them

1:10:03in our needs assessment process what we

1:10:05found from the community meetings as

1:10:07well as the online survey was that a lot

1:10:09of the community members are very

1:10:10satisfied with the current supply and

1:10:12their access to the recreation network

1:10:15the ohlone greenway and the hillside

1:10:16natural area are seen as very valuable

1:10:19items specific to the el cerrito

1:10:21community

1:10:22there's a strong desire to update and

1:10:24pro and

1:10:26improve recreation the network

1:10:29overall there's a desire to improve the

1:10:31city's maintenance of its recreation

1:10:32network

1:10:33enhance pedestrian access and support

1:10:36youth programming

1:10:39part of our needs assessment was

1:10:41identifying how we can fill the gaps in

1:10:43the city supply

1:10:44we know that the city is operating at

1:10:47full capacity with its park and

1:10:48recreation facilities youth and aquatics

1:10:51programming are among the top priorities

1:10:53as well as

1:10:55there have been deficiencies identified

1:10:56for programs in adults youth teens and

1:10:59environment related programs

1:11:02part of this master plan in order to

1:11:04address those gaps was to create

1:11:06maintenance benchmarks and standards for

1:11:08the city to implement moving forward and

1:11:10to consider alternative ways that we can

1:11:12expand

1:11:14community access to recreation resources

1:11:18we developed

1:11:19several goals for the city's master plan

1:11:22each goal has policies as well as action

1:11:24items so i'll go through these quickly

1:11:26and we can

1:11:27come back for any questions

1:11:29goal a enhance all cerritos park network

1:11:32enhance el cerrita's recreation

1:11:33facilities

1:11:35enhance and support recreation programs

1:11:38improve pathways and trails and improve

1:11:40natural areas

1:11:41um the policies for each of these goals

1:11:44were directly informed by previous

1:11:45planning efforts and

1:11:47we want we really want to make sure that

1:11:49this master plan

1:11:50supported the existing work that's been

1:11:52done in the field

1:11:54in developing recommendations for the

1:11:56master plan

1:11:58we created um factors for consideration

1:12:01and factors for consideration helped us

1:12:03prioritize which recommendations should

1:12:06occur and and when how how important

1:12:08they are

1:12:09so those factors for considerations were

1:12:11is it a community priority something

1:12:13that we've identified in the community

1:12:14outreach process does it fulfill unmet

1:12:16need is it going to serve the greatest

1:12:18amount of community members is there

1:12:21potential for revenue generation

1:12:23is it included in previous planning

1:12:24efforts and of course a recommendation's

1:12:26ability to meet code and regulation

1:12:28compliance

1:12:31we developed these categories for our

1:12:33recommendations to help the city in

1:12:35developing a

1:12:38a schematic potential phasing strategy

1:12:41for the city

1:12:42in this we have immediate work

1:12:44priorities which are recommendations

1:12:46that will address an immediate need

1:12:48fix something that's currently failing

1:12:50to prevent future costs later policies

1:12:52and programs early wins these are

1:12:55recommendation items twenty thousand

1:12:56dollars or less deficiencies

1:12:58recommendations that are going to

1:13:00address observed deficiencies in the

1:13:02parking recreation system and of course

1:13:04new and enhancement projects

1:13:06a total of

1:13:07180 projects

1:13:10of which

1:13:12we have a

1:13:13128 have been estimated 52 of the

1:13:16recommendation projects do not have a

1:13:18cost associated with them yet due to um

1:13:21we haven't finalized their scope or they

1:13:23were a policy or program item

1:13:27this spring we were able to complete an

1:13:29additional assessment of the student

1:13:31center

1:13:32and that's how we've later identified

1:13:34swim center capital projects

1:13:38our baseline in addition to these

1:13:40recommendation categories we do have a

1:13:42baseline of improvements that we want to

1:13:43see throughout the recreation system

1:13:47and we created project types in order

1:13:50to do a more detailed assessment of how

1:13:52these project recommendations impact

1:13:54revenue how they can impact maintenance

1:13:56costs and what they can look like for

1:13:59the future of el cerrito

1:14:02this is an example of a project

1:14:04recommendation sheet for the arlington

1:14:06park and clubhouse in this one example

1:14:08you can see how we've categorized all

1:14:10the recommendations at arlington park

1:14:12into their respective categories

1:14:17and this is an example of the same

1:14:19process that we applied for ace for one

1:14:21of the city's recreation facilities the

1:14:23el cerrito swim center

1:14:28and i'll let doug take over

1:14:31thank you lauren doug spencer with

1:14:33applied development economics i'd like

1:14:36to spend a few minutes discussing the

1:14:38financial aspects of the plan

1:14:41the plan identifies a number of

1:14:43substantial costs associated with

1:14:45improving the park and recreation system

1:14:48there are 9.7 million dollars in

1:14:51deficiencies alone of existing parks and

1:14:53recreation facilities and overall we've

1:14:56identified 22.3 million in today's

1:14:59dollars

1:15:00including facility expansions and

1:15:03enhancements as part of the

1:15:04recommendations

1:15:06as lauren mentioned

1:15:08these dollar figures cover 128 different

1:15:11projects

1:15:13with some additional projects still

1:15:15undefined

1:15:17for planning purposes we assumed a 35

1:15:21contingency

1:15:23that includes

1:15:25you know design variations and and

1:15:27changes in cost of construction so the

1:15:30dollar figures that we're working with

1:15:32for planning purposes is closer to 30

1:15:34million

1:15:36that's in capital costs in addition

1:15:38we've

1:15:39recommended

1:15:40increases in maintenance costs for both

1:15:43parks and recreation facilities

1:15:46uh 550 000 a year in park maintenance

1:15:50250 000 a year in facility maintenance

1:15:54just as a note

1:15:56of the capital improvement projects

1:15:587.6 million are directly related to the

1:16:01swim center

1:16:04the plan does not identify specific

1:16:08revenue sources for all of these costs

1:16:11what it does do is lay out a conceptual

1:16:14framework to guide the city

1:16:16in setting priorities as revenue and

1:16:18funding becomes available

1:16:20to make decisions about how to

1:16:22prioritize

1:16:24the various projects that are included

1:16:26in the plan

1:16:29i'd like to begin

1:16:30talking about the maintenance side of

1:16:32the equation

1:16:34the

1:16:35project team underwent a benchmarking

1:16:38process to give some perspective to

1:16:41the level of maintenance that el cerrito

1:16:43currently expends versus other

1:16:46communities

1:16:47nationally and we used

1:16:50data from the national recreation and

1:16:52parks association which provides a lot

1:16:54of current information about how other

1:16:57communities address

1:16:59park and recreation maintenance

1:17:02the city currently spends about seventy

1:17:04seven hundred dollars per acre on uh

1:17:07park maintenance and that's the bar on

1:17:09the left

1:17:10that's pretty close to the median for

1:17:12your population size group

1:17:15but when we factor in the density of the

1:17:17population and the lower number of acres

1:17:21per population and the inefficiencies

1:17:23that go with that

1:17:25and then also

1:17:26our location here in one of the more

1:17:28expensive cost of living areas in the in

1:17:31the country

1:17:33an appropriate benchmark would be more

1:17:35like ten thousand eight hundred dollars

1:17:37per acre giving all these different

1:17:39factors

1:17:41if the city were able to increase its

1:17:43maintenance

1:17:45budget that would add the 550 thousand

1:17:48dollars per year to the existing

1:17:50expenditures that you're currently

1:17:52undertaking

1:17:54this graph looks at

1:17:57of the different components of

1:17:59maintenance costs that we expect to

1:18:01increase in the future

1:18:02the orange line is the five hundred and

1:18:05fifty thousand dollars i was just

1:18:07speaking about we are projecting that to

1:18:11increase in steps gradually over several

1:18:13years five or six years and eventually

1:18:16get to

1:18:17potentially the 550 000 per year

1:18:22the gray line near the bottom is the 250

1:18:24000 per year and increase facilities

1:18:27maintenance in addition to park acreage

1:18:30then we've also factored in

1:18:33increasing maintenance for the swim

1:18:35center which is the blue line

1:18:38for the most part the general trend

1:18:40there is

1:18:42gradual replacement of all the working

1:18:45parts of the swim center essentially

1:18:46over over the 20-year period

1:18:49there are two

1:18:50little humps there are specific projects

1:18:53that were identified in the facilities

1:18:55inventory

1:18:56from 2018

1:18:59that would be

1:19:01in addition to the normal replacement of

1:19:04of those facilities

1:19:06and in addition to all that there's an

1:19:08additional project in the plan um for a

1:19:11new roof and locker room renovation that

1:19:14was tentatively programmed in the year

1:19:1729

1:19:1830 so about halfway through the planning

1:19:20period

1:19:21that project alone is about 2.5 million

1:19:24dollars it's not shown in the graph

1:19:26because it would kind of distort the

1:19:28scale but it is included in the

1:19:30financial projections

1:19:32and then finally if the

1:19:33multi-generational center is built

1:19:36we

1:19:37estimate that at full operation that

1:19:40would require about 650 000

1:19:43per year and that is the lighter orange

1:19:46line that goes up through the middle of

1:19:48the of the graph

1:19:52in terms of potential

1:19:54funding sources for maintenance

1:19:58a number of these

1:19:59existing sources

1:20:03run at about

1:20:04100 to 150 to 200 000 per year

1:20:09individually so for example the city has

1:20:11been

1:20:12programming additional

1:20:15budget from the general fund to the

1:20:17public works department for deferred

1:20:19maintenance which is a lot of what we're

1:20:20talking about

1:20:22we have that in here at about two

1:20:24hundred thousand dollars per year

1:20:25continuing

1:20:28we have also looked at the potential for

1:20:31an extension of measure a

1:20:33which is coming due

1:20:35next year

1:20:37that measure generates about 650 000 per

1:20:41year in its current level

1:20:44and that's the gray line that you see

1:20:46kind of peaking in the early part of

1:20:47this

1:20:48as we'll discuss in a moment we've

1:20:50suggested the possibility that the city

1:20:52may want to consider if that measure is

1:20:55renewed by the voters to use that

1:20:58revenue stream or portion of it to

1:21:02float a bond that would help with some

1:21:03of the capital improvements

1:21:06if that occurred we've

1:21:08estimated about 500 000 a year would be

1:21:12used for debt service and that would

1:21:13leave about 150 000 a year for

1:21:16enhancing the maintenance budget

1:21:20in addition we've looked at the

1:21:21potential for increasing the landscape

1:21:24and lighting assessment district

1:21:27that assessment has not increased for a

1:21:28number of years

1:21:31we've also

1:21:32considered the fact that the city is no

1:21:35longer

1:21:35[Music]

1:21:37paying for the modulars that were part

1:21:39of the senior center so that savings

1:21:42can be reprogrammed into

1:21:46potential maintenance costs or revenue

1:21:49for for those purposes

1:21:51and then finally the orange line which

1:21:53is the largest line here would be

1:21:55additional support from the general fund

1:21:58perhaps including the new

1:22:01real property transfer tax revenues that

1:22:03go to the general fund so

1:22:05in order to meet these maintenance costs

1:22:07there is

1:22:09an additional financial commitment that

1:22:11would be needed basically from general

1:22:13fund revenues

1:22:16switching now to the capital cost side

1:22:20this chart

1:22:21lays out the

1:22:23proposed

1:22:25funding for the 23 million dollars

1:22:29in current costs or 30 million dollars

1:22:31in

1:22:32capital improvement pro

1:22:34projects

1:22:36and lauren described for you the process

1:22:38that the team went through with the

1:22:41community to set priorities for these

1:22:43projects and that essentially

1:22:46resulted in 12 different priority levels

1:22:49for all the projects taking into account

1:22:52community desires

1:22:54cost efficiency the ability

1:22:57of the city to fund certain things

1:23:00sooner than others

1:23:01and also the need to correct

1:23:04efficiencies to avoid future costs

1:23:07so these projects are all laid out

1:23:10in the priority that was established

1:23:12through that planning process so the

1:23:15top priority

1:23:17are in blue they would begin or begin

1:23:20immediately and would would occur in the

1:23:22early part of the

1:23:24plan

1:23:25the mid-level priorities five through

1:23:27eight are in orange and they would be in

1:23:29the middle years and then finally the

1:23:30lowest priorities

1:23:32at the end the phasing of the bars

1:23:36through this period is driven a lot by

1:23:40potential for the city to issue bonds at

1:23:43different points in time to help fund

1:23:46the capital projects and i'll go over

1:23:48that

1:23:49in just a moment

1:23:50but basically the the

1:23:53the key thing is that we have geared the

1:23:55financial strategy to the priorities

1:23:57that were set by the community

1:24:00there are a number of different sources

1:24:01that can contribute to financial

1:24:04i'm into the capital improvements

1:24:06funding

1:24:08we look for example at the outside

1:24:11grants state funding

1:24:13regional funding

1:24:15there was a new state bond measure

1:24:17passed in the last year that that the

1:24:19city should

1:24:21receive its share of funding for

1:24:24over the last seven or eight years the

1:24:26city has on average been able to

1:24:29receive about four hundred thousand

1:24:31dollars per year in outside grant funds

1:24:33and so we've

1:24:34projected that level to continue

1:24:38if additional state bond measures are

1:24:40passed then that funding may well

1:24:42increase we also looked at development

1:24:45impact fees primarily from the san pablo

1:24:48area specific plan

1:24:50we projected the level of development

1:24:53that the city anticipates that those

1:24:56fees will increase by roughly 50 000 per

1:24:59year initially and going up to about 70

1:25:02000 per year over the longer term

1:25:06and then finally we looked at the

1:25:08potential for

1:25:10bond financing

1:25:12to get to some of the larger costs in

1:25:16the plan the blue

1:25:18bar is the

1:25:20suggested

1:25:22measure a bond if that passes

1:25:24would be about 5.6 million dollars

1:25:29in the early time frame

1:25:31and then we've hypothetically programmed

1:25:33three additional bond measures at

1:25:35different points in time ranging from

1:25:37six to six and a half million

1:25:39this is largely limited by the city's

1:25:43financial policies of not extending debt

1:25:46service beyond five percent of your

1:25:47operating costs so we've done a

1:25:49projection of what we think the city's

1:25:51budget may be

1:25:53over this period of time and what sort

1:25:55of debt capacity or debt service

1:25:57capacity you may have and so that is a

1:26:01bit of what governed the timing and the

1:26:04proposed layout of of that financing

1:26:08so finally this chart kind of puts

1:26:10everything together

1:26:13the blue line is the existing funding

1:26:16sources that the city has to work with

1:26:19generally those

1:26:20could be expected to increase gradually

1:26:24but the orange line are the costs that

1:26:28would go into full implementation of the

1:26:30plan as as it's laid out and clearly

1:26:33there's a gap and so the green line

1:26:36includes these various bond measures

1:26:38that i outlined as well as

1:26:41increasing support from the general fund

1:26:43and

1:26:44other sources that as yet are

1:26:47unidentified but it gives the city an

1:26:50idea of what

1:26:51funding requirements are needed to fully

1:26:54implement the plan if in fact you're

1:26:56able to do that over the 20 years

1:27:00that's a brief summary of the financial

1:27:02aspects and i think lauren's going to

1:27:05conclude and then we'll have the secret

1:27:07presentation

1:27:12uh yeah so

1:27:14for this for this master plan we feel

1:27:16that the main findings are what we've

1:27:18been able to achieve are identify

1:27:21enhanced recreation facility maintenance

1:27:23enhanced park maintenance and we've been

1:27:26able to collect

1:27:27recommendations that

1:27:29really were generated by community

1:27:31interest and what the community wants

1:27:34and what the system needs

1:27:43good evening i'm gene eisberg with

1:27:45lexington planning so we're talking

1:27:47about the compliance under the

1:27:48california environmental quality act or

1:27:50ceqa so for this plan we prepared an

1:27:53initial study to determine whether there

1:27:54were any potentially significant impacts

1:27:57and determined that a mitigated negative

1:27:59declaration was warranted to reduce

1:28:01those potential impacts to less than

1:28:03significant levels so in thinking about

1:28:05this this is a plan a majority of the

1:28:08plan is more conceptual policies

1:28:10conceptual projects and so many of those

1:28:13will be categorically exempt under sequa

1:28:15so the state allows for exemptions for

1:28:17existing facilities many of the baseline

1:28:19improvements that lauren mentioned in

1:28:21terms of ada upgrades

1:28:23restroom additions things like that so

1:28:25small structures bicycle facilities

1:28:28even habitat restoration small habitat

1:28:31restoration projects are categoric

1:28:33exempt under sequa

1:28:34some projects may require further

1:28:36analysis after this plan is adopted so

1:28:39depending on how extensive the

1:28:41multi-generational facility is or how

1:28:44extensive grading is in certain new

1:28:46facilities

1:28:48so uh the the

1:28:51excuse me the initial study was sent to

1:28:53the state clearinghouse it underwent a

1:28:5530-day review period in the month of

1:28:57march and we received one formal comment

1:28:59letter from the east bay municipal

1:29:01utility district

1:29:03which i believe was

1:29:06provided to you following the

1:29:08publication of this agenda report and

1:29:10i'll mention that a little bit more

1:29:12in the next couple slides

1:29:15so these are the topics that were

1:29:16evaluated in the initial study

1:29:19sikh was not very friendly to beneficial

1:29:21impacts but as you can imagine a parks

1:29:23and recreation facility master plan has

1:29:25a number of beneficial impacts so

1:29:27thinking about reductions to the heat

1:29:29island effect

1:29:30improvements to stormwater management

1:29:32increased access to parks and recreation

1:29:35facilities

1:29:36and improvements to habitat

1:29:38but really here we're looking at the

1:29:40potential physical impacts so many

1:29:42policies that already exist in your

1:29:44general plan and other policy documents

1:29:46such as the urban greening plan help to

1:29:48reduce potential impacts of this plan

1:29:50itself additionally regulations in the

1:29:53city's municipal code along with

1:29:55regulations from the state regional

1:29:56agencies

1:29:58department of fish and wildlife other

1:30:00agencies such as that help to reduce

1:30:02potential impacts from

1:30:04from some of these projects and policies

1:30:07um the plan itself includes policies

1:30:10that self-mitigate this initial study at

1:30:13mnd so thinking again about the the

1:30:16maintenance provisions upgrades to

1:30:17existing facilities helped prevent

1:30:19deferred maintenance

1:30:21and then where existing regulations

1:30:23don't go far enough

1:30:25we've suggested mitigation measures so

1:30:28whether asterisks are shown here we've

1:30:30included mitigation measures to reduce

1:30:31those impacts to less than significant

1:30:34levels

1:30:37so this is just a summary of those

1:30:38mitigations

1:30:41first looking at air quality to reduce

1:30:43potential air quality impacts during

1:30:45construction we have a number of of

1:30:48mitigations to the biological resources

1:30:51sections to protect nesting birds bats

1:30:54tree replacement and tree roots during

1:30:56construction

1:30:57several cultural resources

1:30:59these are fairly standard mitigations

1:31:01you'll see them also in the urban

1:31:03greening plan initial study had had

1:31:04fairly similar mitigations there

1:31:07requirements for a geotechnical

1:31:09assessment site investigations where

1:31:11there's known potential hazardous

1:31:13resources or underground storage tanks

1:31:17an additional hazardous

1:31:19materials excuse me a hazardous section

1:31:21mitigation regarding the community

1:31:23gardens protecting humans from soil

1:31:25contamination and then lastly

1:31:28requirements to reduce potential noise

1:31:31impacts those are best practices there

1:31:33so

1:31:34we also received a comment from council

1:31:36member lyman regarding a few of these

1:31:39mitigation measures and we've prepared

1:31:42an amendment

1:31:43to the mitigation monitoring report so

1:31:45it revised attachment b

1:31:48staff didn't recommend changes to the

1:31:49cultural resource or

1:31:51the biological resource mitigations

1:31:54regarding additional species evaluation

1:31:56feeling that existing regulations and

1:31:59information were sufficient there but

1:32:01did make changes to the noise mitigation

1:32:04regarding idling so that it was

1:32:06consistent with the air quality

1:32:08mitigation and made changes to the bio

1:32:12one mitigation regarding nesting birds

1:32:14to clarify when that would be required

1:32:18during this during the nesting seasons

1:32:20and at certain types of construction

1:32:22activities

1:32:23i mentioned that edmund provided a

1:32:25letter

1:32:27with their concerns

1:32:28essentially addressing issues related to

1:32:31water and wastewater services

1:32:33hazardous materials in soil and

1:32:37protection of their infrastructure some

1:32:39of these were more

1:32:41general boilerplate issues regarding how

1:32:43water service is conducted with mud and

1:32:46some were just requesting

1:32:48fairly standard procedures for what

1:32:51happens when you're digging

1:32:53subsurface protecting their

1:32:55infrastructure their water and

1:32:56wastewater infrastructure

1:32:59that concludes my presentation i'm happy

1:33:01to answer any questions thank you

1:33:06questions

1:33:08sure um thank you for taking my comments

1:33:12seriously and i know i did read through

1:33:14the edits and actually even some of the

1:33:15edits in the

1:33:18um

1:33:18[Music]

1:33:20actual secret document i guess it is

1:33:22where you talk you went from describing

1:33:24what the cultural resources to

1:33:26referencing all cultural resources that

1:33:27actually broadens and picks up some of

1:33:29the

1:33:30comments i had

1:33:31um i do want to though visit on one the

1:33:34mmrp uh biosection i do want to

1:33:37discuss ask again the question

1:33:40about performing pre-construction

1:33:42surveys in undeveloped areas and and one

1:33:45of the things that you said early on

1:33:47miss eisenberg is

1:33:48is that some projects may need

1:33:51additional review and that may

1:33:53make all of my concerns go away

1:33:56in in the areas where there would be

1:33:59work primarily in the hillside natural

1:34:02area

1:34:04creekside park areas where there is

1:34:06significant amount of vegetation that is

1:34:08providing habitat for potentially

1:34:10endangered

1:34:11species or plants

1:34:15most of those types of projects require

1:34:17subsequent review in your mind

1:34:20well they would at least require

1:34:22potentially agency review so through

1:34:24either the um the jarpa process

1:34:27the

1:34:28forgive me for the acronym joint joint

1:34:30area regional permitting

1:34:34association whatever it is yes i know

1:34:36what it is i understand the concept it's

1:34:37a regional permitting group yep

1:34:40so yes so either through that process

1:34:42where you're going through

1:34:43the federal and the state agencies so

1:34:45you may be getting input from the army

1:34:48corps or department of fish and wildlife

1:34:49of what kind of mitigations or

1:34:51assessments you need to do

1:34:54so that could happen through that

1:34:56process that might not be sequa per se

1:34:58but it could be just that agency process

1:35:01yeah forever for everyone's knowledge

1:35:03what i was proposing is that we would

1:35:05have a mitigation

1:35:06an mmrp which required pre-construction

1:35:10surveys

1:35:11for specific projects in areas that have

1:35:14a predominance of natural uh or

1:35:18vegetation habitats

1:35:20so non non-developed areas i think was

1:35:23what i was proposing so obviously

1:35:25projects that are at castro park or

1:35:28other areas which are mode or

1:35:30areas that are paved buildings that are

1:35:33being used

1:35:34these types of uh pre-construction

1:35:36surveys would not be necessary

1:35:38and what i'm hearing i agree with that

1:35:41what i one of my questions was is this

1:35:44the last secret analysis for all these

1:35:46products 180 projects

1:35:48clearly not that was in your

1:35:49presentation and i agree that

1:35:51that type of supplemental survey on

1:35:54areas that are not developed

1:35:57significantly today some of those are

1:35:59former quarries so they're been

1:36:01disturbed but even disturbed areas can

1:36:03subsequently provide good habitat

1:36:06so so thank you for

1:36:08for that consideration um one of my

1:36:11other

1:36:12suggestions and i do think staff for

1:36:14providing a revised resolution

1:36:17was to actually incorporate

1:36:20some language from the

1:36:23from the um

1:36:27agenda

1:36:29agenda item uh the gender

1:36:31item memo

1:36:34and and so what i would love to do

1:36:36with

1:36:37council's support

1:36:39is on the bottom of page 370 of 508.

1:36:43so this is

1:36:44approximately the fourth page of the

1:36:46agenda item

1:36:47there's a very good summary there i'll

1:36:50read it out loud the park and recreation

1:36:53commission reviewed the addition of

1:36:54appendix j and language changes in the

1:36:57master plan that resulted from the more

1:37:00detailed information presented in

1:37:02appendix j at their meeting on march

1:37:052019

1:37:07and

1:37:08i i think that that would add to the

1:37:10value of our resolution if that was

1:37:12added as a whereas clause so

1:37:15when we do get to the

1:37:17uh the motion i would love to be able to

1:37:20add

1:37:21add that clause and this is in the

1:37:24question phase so i just want to make

1:37:25sure that staff had no objections to

1:37:27that

1:37:28edition

1:37:31i'm having difficulty figuring out when

1:37:34you said page 27 page 307 307 or 3

1:37:403

1:37:413 7 0 sorry thank you is it in the

1:37:43binder or yes no it's in it's in the

1:37:46agenda package that was delivered to you

1:37:49so it's probably in your loose pages on

1:37:51your binder

1:37:52it's probably in the loose pages that

1:37:54are on your right hand side

1:37:56okay three every page yeah three seven

1:37:58zero

1:37:59every one

1:38:00every yep

1:38:11it's the very last sentence slash

1:38:13paragraph on the bottom of that page

1:38:18the parks and rec commission reviewed

1:38:20the edition of appendix j

1:38:24correct that one correct and so what are

1:38:27you suggesting

1:38:28did that be inserted as a whereas clause

1:38:31in our resolution

1:38:45i

1:38:46i mean i don't have a problem with it

1:38:47but i'm not sure i understand what the

1:38:50significance is

1:38:52um we we do in our current resolution we

1:38:55discuss a tremendous amount about the

1:38:57outreach that we've done

1:39:00and we talk about the park and rec

1:39:02commission

1:39:03taking action on september 12th

1:39:06but we don't necess and the agenda item

1:39:09does correctly acknowledge that the park

1:39:11and rec did look at the appendix j which

1:39:13was

1:39:14added at a much later date and i would

1:39:16like to the public record the whereas

1:39:18clauses which are a summary of the

1:39:20record to reflect the park and rec

1:39:22commission did

1:39:23participate in reviewing appendix j

1:39:26okay thank you

1:39:30um that's that concludes my questions

1:39:37yes

1:39:38council member fidelity

1:39:41so this is the time first of all i want

1:39:44it all everything that's in your report

1:39:45so thank you it's uh an opus

1:39:49pretty incredible and now how we move

1:39:51forward seems to be the real issue

1:39:55um but i i had some specific questions

1:39:58about the parks that we have in our city

1:40:01and i was hoping

1:40:02will it be staff that might be able to

1:40:04answer in the context of going through

1:40:06this two-year process what may or may

1:40:08not be in this report because this is

1:40:10the time when council needs to say what

1:40:12they care about

1:40:13or what they didn't like because if we

1:40:15approve this it's a matter of

1:40:17implementation and moving forward in

1:40:19bigger ways

1:40:21so i just wanted to start with

1:40:23and i don't have many but i have a few

1:40:26that really stuck out as i read through

1:40:28the report

1:40:29um

1:40:30and i do like the concept of rentability

1:40:33throughout the system here and the

1:40:35improvements of the clubhouses and the

1:40:37improvements to

1:40:38allow our fields and our clubhouses to

1:40:40be rented

1:40:42um

1:40:42i didn't see any discussion at arlington

1:40:45park about the pond

1:40:46anywhere

1:40:48did that get any it's never been the

1:40:50greatest

1:40:52water asset in el cerrito and was there

1:40:55any issues about improving it or making

1:40:57it workable or making it

1:41:00flushable

1:41:02you know i i don't think we discussed

1:41:04that as a specific project but certainly

1:41:07enhanced park maintenance would

1:41:09contribute to making that a better

1:41:11asset i mean your report's pretty

1:41:13detailed

1:41:14and for that not to be in here

1:41:17it's pretty it's big in there and i get

1:41:19a lot of criticisms about why isn't this

1:41:22cleaner why can't we

1:41:23okay

1:41:25okay

1:41:25um

1:41:27centennial park who which just opened

1:41:30there is a i noticed that there's an

1:41:31additional 466 thousand dollars needed

1:41:34is that a phase two thing that was phase

1:41:36two yeah okay and what will that entail

1:41:39is that

1:41:40moving the uh

1:41:43garden over those types of things it

1:41:45entails a permanent community garden it

1:41:47um also right now there's just um

1:41:51one playground i believe it would add

1:41:53the older kids playground additional

1:41:56swings

1:41:58but there's quite a bit left barbecue

1:41:59yeah there's quite a bit left and that

1:42:01money is not identified anywhere that's

1:42:02just part of the

1:42:04enhancements

1:42:06uh it isn't it is identified in our

1:42:09implementation plan

1:42:11in the plan but if we receive source is

1:42:13not the sources okay that that's the key

1:42:15sources are the key

1:42:17um

1:42:18i also noticed that with sarita vista

1:42:20park

1:42:21pretty much throughout the document um

1:42:23the turf field seemed to be a given a

1:42:27kind of a done deal

1:42:29everyone's agreed to this

1:42:31um can you because i i and there's a

1:42:35chart there about costs

1:42:37it would be cheaper to do this annually

1:42:39but then you have to put away over 150

1:42:41000 a year over 10 years to replace it

1:42:44so

1:42:46where are we on deciding on this turf

1:42:48field because our july 4th i'm not sure

1:42:50about sitting on plastic on july 4th so

1:42:53nothing in this plan is necessarily a

1:42:55done deal all of the specific projects

1:42:57especially the bigger ones would have to

1:42:58go through a design process and i

1:43:01believe the master plan mentions

1:43:04enhancing the enhancing the field

1:43:07possibly with the use of artificial turf

1:43:09and so that would go through a public

1:43:11process and design process before it was

1:43:13implemented

1:43:14so the category of enforcements or

1:43:16things that we'd like to have as opposed

1:43:18to fixing it are still out for all of us

1:43:20to

1:43:21it's still still to be determined a lot

1:43:24of these yes using is if this plan is

1:43:27adopted then um staff would when it

1:43:30comes to budget time

1:43:33yes we would formulate

1:43:34uh

1:43:36we would give suggestions on which

1:43:38projects to implement

1:43:39and when

1:43:41on the community center i know that

1:43:43there needs to be a new sound system

1:43:45and i know that the arts commission has

1:43:48they have a budget there's a money

1:43:50source there they've talked about

1:43:52improving the sound system

1:43:53with the arts money so let's remember

1:43:56that moving forward sounds great um

1:43:59on the hillside natural area this is

1:44:01something and i came to a few of the

1:44:02meetings uh and the public comments

1:44:06there are some people in town that don't

1:44:08think we may need a new master plan for

1:44:10the natural area

1:44:12can you talk a little bit about that

1:44:13discussion uh

1:44:15because

1:44:17there's a lot of discussion about what

1:44:19we should be planning up in the hillside

1:44:20including fire issues and could this be

1:44:23could the money we use

1:44:25you know for fire

1:44:27discussions be part of this hillside

1:44:29plan and i don't want to wait two years

1:44:30to deal with the fire stuff

1:44:32so

1:44:34the master plan the hillside master plan

1:44:36is recommended

1:44:37to address future uses

1:44:40such as

1:44:42should there be new trails where should

1:44:43they go should they be multi-use should

1:44:45they be single use you know should we

1:44:47allow bikes

1:44:49and things of those natures this plan

1:44:52certainly addresses uh enhancing

1:44:54maintenance and upkeep

1:44:57which is something we would not have to

1:44:58wait for a new master plan a separate

1:45:01master plan to implement

1:45:03just the funding

1:45:05so say that again the hillside

1:45:07the hillside master plan would would

1:45:09address

1:45:11uh future uses that don't exist now

1:45:14and you know beyond signage beyond

1:45:17correct yeah should we have more trails

1:45:20where should they go

1:45:21should they be dual um hiking and bike

1:45:25trails should there be a single bike

1:45:27track you know those are types of things

1:45:29and it wouldn't be you know an 850 page

1:45:31document plus

1:45:33i didn't see a cost or a timeline in

1:45:35this report for that

1:45:37uh i believe it's in there isn't it in

1:45:38there yeah i think in the opinion of

1:45:40probable costs we escalated the um

1:45:44projected cost for a hillside natural

1:45:46microphone all right yeah in the opinion

1:45:49of probable cost one of our appendices

1:45:50we do have an escalated cost for that

1:45:53master plan because it was proposed in

1:45:55the urban greening plan in 2015 and we

1:45:58support that that master plan should be

1:46:00developed

1:46:02but there might be some synergies as we

1:46:03move forward with just discussions on

1:46:06our hillside natural areas right and i

1:46:08don't want to lose that opportunity for

1:46:10absolutely double spending absolutely

1:46:12when we can spend uh on or some urgent

1:46:15fire issues and and finally i just i

1:46:18know we're all talking about measure a

1:46:19which is critical i

1:46:22the pool is

1:46:23one of the the city's biggest assets

1:46:28if measure a does not pass

1:46:30we're in deeper financial

1:46:33problems aren't we because we will have

1:46:35to find it is there any discussion of

1:46:37what those amounts

1:46:39the amount of money will be i mean it

1:46:41changes all the figures in this report

1:46:42if we have to pay for the pool in

1:46:44addition to not getting that

1:46:48money from from the measure

1:46:54yes that's correct um we we

1:46:58did build the strategy on the assumption

1:47:01that that that measure would be extended

1:47:03however that assumption you made that

1:47:05assumption going through there yes but

1:47:07the

1:47:09report does detail all the

1:47:13various revenues and cost assumptions

1:47:16and so

1:47:17it would actually not be difficult to

1:47:19to see if that revenue is not available

1:47:22what you know would have to be made up

1:47:24so the

1:47:26the plan is designed in particular

1:47:27there's a

1:47:28a detailed table in the implementation

1:47:32chapter that that

1:47:34lays that out

1:47:35and the intention there is that it's a

1:47:37working

1:47:38we've actually provided it to staff in

1:47:40electronic form so it's a working

1:47:42spreadsheet so that so that as

1:47:44assumptions change those changes can be

1:47:46easily made and look at the implications

1:47:50um for future

1:47:51decisions and so the the plan is set up

1:47:54to be a tool in that sense to help with

1:47:57future financial planning so so a lot of

1:48:00the assumptions that

1:48:01are built into now if those don't occur

1:48:04it would be relatively easy to

1:48:06recalculate what those implications are

1:48:08we need to pass measure

1:48:10yeah certainly be the major if nothing

1:48:12else leaving this room tonight we need

1:48:14to know that and do that yes

1:48:17i would just add that yet

1:48:19uh of the nearly eight million dollar

1:48:21figure that we estimated as part of the

1:48:23swim center projects

1:48:25there's only about 95 thousand dollars

1:48:27that are actual enhancements the rest of

1:48:29that

1:48:317 million dollars are for replacing

1:48:34capital equipment that we know will

1:48:36reach the end of its their anticipated

1:48:39life cycles as well as the flat roofs

1:48:41which will reach the end of its

1:48:43anticipated cycle

1:48:45and then we also know that

1:48:47our plumbing and drains

1:48:49are deficient um

1:48:51and that they they will need to be

1:48:53replaced and there's a 620 years there

1:48:56is a certain percentage in measure a

1:48:58that can be used for a variety of other

1:49:00projects right

1:49:03is there a currently yes

1:49:05percentage or

1:49:06no there's not a set percentage there's

1:49:08just uh in the in the measure a 2000

1:49:11swim center

1:49:12um

1:49:14stated that it could be used for

1:49:16renovation of the swim center

1:49:18uh seismic improvements of canaan trail

1:49:20clubhouse and ada improvements to huber

1:49:23poinsett and harding bathrooms oh very

1:49:25specific

1:49:27yes from that okay my last

1:49:29question here so the 800 000

1:49:32dollars a year figure what does that

1:49:34entail again that's the maintenance and

1:49:37is that the immediate work priorities

1:49:39projects

1:49:41no those are part of the capital

1:49:43projects to actually correct

1:49:45efficiencies that's maintenance oh so

1:49:47it's maintenance it's combined

1:49:49park and recreation facility maintenance

1:49:52800 000 a year

1:49:54and is is the the red component that you

1:49:57have in the study the immediate work

1:49:59priorities and the um

1:50:02um

1:50:04we're going to be approaching

1:50:05the

1:50:06most needy projects first right i mean

1:50:10that's what you recommend

1:50:12absolutely if we can pull up the yes

1:50:14that capital projects phasing chart

1:50:17those immediate work priorities are in

1:50:19those blue bars in the early years

1:50:22uh which not showing quite

1:50:24it's down by the the minus

1:50:27where it says 72 percent at the bottom

1:50:31directly to the left of the 72 percent

1:50:34and i'm talking about each park in each

1:50:37project that you have in this big report

1:50:39has the red section

1:50:41which is the immediate

1:50:43work priorities right

1:50:46that

1:50:47yes so the immediate work priorities

1:50:50are part of the uh capital component

1:50:54there there's the specific

1:50:55recommendations and projects that were

1:50:57part of that 30.1 million dollar

1:51:00budget so the separate money total for

1:51:02that for the for the immediate work

1:51:04priorities is is what

1:51:08how much is that

1:51:11there's a there's a table for that i

1:51:13think

1:51:14uh well i think what we're what you're

1:51:16saying is that the immediate priorities

1:51:19are all given a category of the 9-12 so

1:51:23they are ranked really high um in the

1:51:26master plan which would put them in this

1:51:27blue category off the top of my head he

1:51:29didn't segregate that out necessarily

1:51:32okay we prioritize them as higher

1:51:34ranking because they were immediate work

1:51:35priorities

1:51:37because i'm just saying one of your

1:51:38first goals that you have in this report

1:51:40is that our citizens are generally

1:51:42satisfied with the number of parks we

1:51:44have and what we have they just want

1:51:46stuff fixed

1:51:48they want it fixed and clean so the

1:51:50maintenance and fixing these important

1:51:53critical

1:51:54in my view should be happening first and

1:51:56uh and that's all i have to say other

1:51:58than

1:52:00uh all the other good enhancements uh

1:52:04thank you for the hard work

1:52:07council member quinto okay

1:52:09you asked my questions council member

1:52:11for delhi thank you uh one of my concern

1:52:14is

1:52:15measure a

1:52:16and

1:52:17making sure that

1:52:20our residents know that we need to put

1:52:22this uh

1:52:23on the ballot and make sure that

1:52:26everyone supports this because if this

1:52:28is not passed um we're going to be in uh

1:52:32digging ourselves a hole where we not we

1:52:34will not be able to dig ourselves out of

1:52:36so

1:52:37looking at the pool and measure a and

1:52:40knowing that

1:52:42measure a back in 2000 did include

1:52:45uh

1:52:46things that you can use for

1:52:48for parks and and i know it mentioned

1:52:52uh the park that i'm next to where i

1:52:54live uh canyon gel park

1:52:57so looking at that and looking at

1:53:00many of the trees that need to be put

1:53:02down that are dead there

1:53:04so i'm hoping that

1:53:06some of these funds we can use

1:53:10you know to make sure that uh in an

1:53:12emergency uh a lot of the trees that

1:53:15should be taken down should be taken

1:53:17down

1:53:19yes and we will be coming back to talk

1:53:21more about um

1:53:23a future measure very soon okay and then

1:53:27also but you know i live on the north

1:53:29side and uh there was a park that was

1:53:32promised that i still see here um and it

1:53:36was taken away and funds were put into

1:53:38centennial park instead i want everyone

1:53:41to know that we have so many young

1:53:44families

1:53:45that have moved to my area on the north

1:53:47side of el cerrito

1:53:50and they don't have a park they have to

1:53:52go all the way up the hill at canyon

1:53:54trail park

1:53:55there used to be a playground down below

1:53:57and it doesn't exist now so

1:54:00yeah this is what

1:54:02residents in my neighborhood on the

1:54:04north side want

1:54:06and they will promised that and i just

1:54:08want to make sure that in the future uh

1:54:11that uh we will look at that so uh i

1:54:13know there's property that was available

1:54:16um and uh

1:54:18well i would just

1:54:20say that the um the money was

1:54:22transferred to centennial park because

1:54:25the cost of obtaining the private parcel

1:54:27next to baxter creek park was more than

1:54:30measure wwe had available and they were

1:54:33not willing to negotiate with us

1:54:36essentially so that's the only reason

1:54:37why uh the priority shifted okay yeah i

1:54:40appreciate that um but no on the bottom

1:54:43uh of uh canyon trail park

1:54:46by

1:54:49there's a sand lot there that used to

1:54:51have

1:54:52a small playground um

1:54:54it would be great to have that return

1:54:56there

1:54:58it's a dead zone there i know a lot of

1:55:00environmentalists like it and

1:55:02people that take walks

1:55:05but kids need to play and

1:55:08that would be great to have a small

1:55:10playground there again

1:55:12so i hope we consider that in the future

1:55:15absolutely okay thank you councilmember

1:55:18abelson i have a few things um

1:55:22some of one the first one is just really

1:55:24a question

1:55:26and that's about the

1:55:28midtown activity center

1:55:30um so i know we have a lease on the

1:55:34portables there for five years correct

1:55:37um what happens at the end of five years

1:55:40to the portables

1:55:42uh either we purchase them or is that

1:55:45right

1:55:46it's yeah we have an option to purchase

1:55:48or

1:55:50we've detailed

1:55:51minimally in our financing strategy to

1:55:54try to leverage that money into a

1:55:56permanent building

1:55:58of either the same square footage or

1:56:00additional funding to augment

1:56:03another building so say the community

1:56:05center or a library to

1:56:08have programming space

1:56:11to fulfill those needs that are

1:56:13currently met at the modulars

1:56:16okay because that wasn't exactly what i

1:56:18thought i heard in the report that was

1:56:20given tonight um but so

1:56:24so if

1:56:25if if we don't do anything then

1:56:29the vendor will take them away

1:56:31is that what happens

1:56:33essentially i'm not suggesting that it

1:56:35happened

1:56:36at all

1:56:38i just am wanting to

1:56:41and understand that that's true

1:56:43yeah we would have to if if no other

1:56:47resource was available to move those

1:56:48services

1:56:49we would have to choose to either uh

1:56:52purchase those or

1:56:53uh cram try to cram the services in

1:56:56wherever we could

1:56:57somewhere else somewhere else

1:56:59okay

1:57:00um

1:57:01the next question i had um has to do

1:57:04actually with east bay regional parks

1:57:06which hasn't been mentioned

1:57:08i don't think tonight at all but

1:57:11what i remember when redevelopment ended

1:57:13is that

1:57:15[Music]

1:57:16and they were setting up the committee

1:57:18to oversee that

1:57:20that

1:57:22we were looking for people

1:57:24or

1:57:25you know there had to be or i don't we

1:57:27was we were looking for but there had to

1:57:29be people representing the different

1:57:31interests

1:57:32of

1:57:34those entities to whom the money

1:57:38uh would be returned from the

1:57:40you know when you'd dissolve

1:57:42the property tax would be returned the

1:57:44future property tax would be

1:57:47not so much returned to but

1:57:49uh it would start flowing there

1:57:52and um

1:57:54so

1:57:55and then i've also noticed so that's

1:57:57kind of one thing then i've also noticed

1:58:00that there are no east bay regional park

1:58:03facilities in el cerrito unless somebody

1:58:06wishes

1:58:07to correct me

1:58:10so

1:58:11when it when all of that got done

1:58:14it turned out

1:58:17that east bay regional park had the

1:58:20biggest

1:58:23what was the right word karen do you

1:58:25know what i'm talking about

1:58:26whole

1:58:28interest financial interest

1:58:31on the property

1:58:32tax the oversight committee yeah state

1:58:35committee well they were on the

1:58:36oversight committee they had a seat on

1:58:38our oversight committee for our city

1:58:41because

1:58:42they got more of the they were going to

1:58:44get more of the property tax to be

1:58:46returned than in any other entity so

1:58:48they're getting what that means is

1:58:50they're getting a lot of money

1:58:52from us and i imagine continue to this

1:58:54day getting that

1:58:57share of the money which if

1:58:59the same is how when redevelopment ended

1:59:02uh-huh i would assume that that's true

1:59:04so we're so it to me

1:59:07that

1:59:08makes me wonder

1:59:09if in fact that couldn't be possibly a

1:59:14source of funding

1:59:16for anything

1:59:19or some sort of a

1:59:22arrangement

1:59:24you know where they would participate in

1:59:26improvements

1:59:27that could be made somewhere in our city

1:59:30is that a theoretical

1:59:32possibility i um well centennial park

1:59:35use uh wwe that's different

1:59:39that's that's not the um property tax

1:59:42no no but uh i'm talking about property

1:59:45tax okay so so they did

1:59:47so we did use uh ww funding for some of

1:59:51our but that's because it was

1:59:54that's how i mean it was up to the city

1:59:56to do that that was the terms of that

1:59:59measure but i'm talking about property

2:00:01tax

2:00:02the thing you pay twice a year

2:00:05if you own property

2:00:07in

2:00:07[Music]

2:00:08everywhere in california as far as i

2:00:10know and um

2:00:14does anybody

2:00:15anyone answer my question

2:00:23if i may

2:00:24east bay regional park district does get

2:00:26a property tax allocation from the

2:00:29entire region that it that it serves and

2:00:32what i expect is that

2:00:35that allocation was then returned to

2:00:37them at the conclusion of redevelopment

2:00:39so yes there are

2:00:41property tax dollars from el cerrito

2:00:43going to the park district that's true

2:00:45for all the cities in the unincorporated

2:00:48area

2:00:49that they serve

2:00:51it certainly would would be a

2:00:53possibility to enter discussions with

2:00:55them for example the

2:00:58hillside natural areas the kind of

2:01:01park open space that

2:01:03is

2:01:04typical of east bay mud facilities and

2:01:06whether they would see an interest in um

2:01:10you know participating in in

2:01:12improvements there or or

2:01:14maintenance but um

2:01:17you know that would have to be a

2:01:18discussion that would be

2:01:20entered with them

2:01:24okay could that do did you have

2:01:26something down no no no okay you just

2:01:28look like you wanted to

2:01:30um the um

2:01:32because maybe that could help us fund

2:01:35some of this

2:01:37i mean it certainly to me would be worth

2:01:39a conversation

2:01:41with somebody about that by we can

2:01:43certainly ask okay

2:01:45yeah because i was

2:01:48i remember at the time pretty upset

2:01:50because we had nothing

2:01:52we got nothing from you know no we had

2:01:54no facilities

2:01:56and i i know as a person

2:02:01with disabilities that i typically can't

2:02:04get to all of these other places

2:02:06so i'm really basically denied their

2:02:09cert you know the use of their services

2:02:11because they're not

2:02:13you know accessible in a way that would

2:02:15be meaningful and um and it's it's got a

2:02:19lot to do with the fact that they're

2:02:20located in these other places um

2:02:24say for example central county or you

2:02:26know whatever but and maybe i would also

2:02:30like to partake of these

2:02:32services

2:02:35then

2:02:36another question i have is and i'm just

2:02:39going to kind of go down my questions

2:02:43you talked about the community

2:02:47chose whatever and i could see that

2:02:50there were a lot of public sessions

2:02:51because i saw

2:02:53the the information about that in the

2:02:56report

2:02:58which was very extensive and i think you

2:02:59did a great job by the way

2:03:01um

2:03:02the uh but what i was wondering about

2:03:05was how representative the so-called

2:03:08community as defined in that re uh

2:03:11conversation

2:03:12uh was of different segments of our of

2:03:16our

2:03:16uh community of our real community

2:03:19the people who actually do live here

2:03:22and the part and i i would be curious to

2:03:25know it

2:03:26across all significant categories but

2:03:29the one i'm particularly interested in

2:03:32is the disabled community

2:03:36because um

2:03:39then then i have further questions about

2:03:42is are the

2:03:44is the disabled community being served

2:03:47by any

2:03:49of this or is there some part of

2:03:53this

2:03:54plan that is that will provide services

2:03:57to that particular group can somebody

2:04:00answer that question

2:04:03um well as part of our

2:04:05we feel i feel confident that we did our

2:04:07best ability to reach out to el

2:04:09cerrito's diverse community

2:04:11we created a stakeholder community

2:04:14advisory group which we worked closely

2:04:16with city staff to help

2:04:18them

2:04:19help us identify key leaders in the

2:04:20community

2:04:22and community members that represented

2:04:24different aspects of the city of el

2:04:26cerrito

2:04:27they were critical to that we also had

2:04:29our stakeholder

2:04:30sessions which were

2:04:32community members who represented a

2:04:33particular demographic in the community

2:04:35so we met with environmental groups

2:04:37sports groups we met with seniors

2:04:40unfortunately i agree we did not meet

2:04:42with an explicitly orient a group

2:04:44explicitly oriented to disability but

2:04:47improving access

2:04:48especially ada accessibility has been a

2:04:51main priority for much of the master

2:04:53plan and we do acknowledge that there is

2:04:55a significant level of improvement that

2:04:57can happen throughout the city's parks

2:04:59and recreation facilities in order to

2:05:01meet the identified

2:05:03ada issues

2:05:04um

2:05:08so in other words this the community

2:05:10doesn't represent the whole community

2:05:13it doesn't rep it does not include the

2:05:15disabled community particularly i'm

2:05:17thinking in wheelchairs and you could

2:05:19also include groups like the blind

2:05:22community

2:05:23you know there are other

2:05:25other parts of the disabled community

2:05:27that one could think of to talk about

2:05:29also but that they were not included in

2:05:32this so this

2:05:34so i i won't go through the what about

2:05:36uh

2:05:37other

2:05:38uh breakdowns of uh

2:05:41the people who live here in el cerrito

2:05:43that

2:05:44if you were to see a um

2:05:47um a breakdown of who lives in el

2:05:49cerrito and they'll break it down by

2:05:51different

2:05:54one thing i can think of as ethnic

2:05:56groups so how representative was the

2:05:59community as you define it

2:06:01here

2:06:02of

2:06:03of our actual community

2:06:08and how how representative say

2:06:11across

2:06:12the city

2:06:13i know you just referred to the north

2:06:15end

2:06:16well so there's the south ends you could

2:06:18say east or west you know there are

2:06:20different areas of the city

2:06:22and i'm just wondering how

2:06:23representative

2:06:25of the

2:06:28community the community

2:06:30as defined uh represents

2:06:34you know the totality of all the people

2:06:36who live here in that way

2:06:38i think i understand the direction of

2:06:40your question we didn't

2:06:41survey race or ethnicity of any

2:06:44participants

2:06:45but i feel confident that chris and city

2:06:49staff took the measures to make sure

2:06:50that the online

2:06:52survey was made public throughout all of

2:06:54the community they did an excellent job

2:06:55of posting the link to the

2:06:57community-wide online survey at all the

2:06:59city's recreation buildings

2:07:02and in terms of the publicity putting

2:07:04out to 10 community meetings i feel like

2:07:06that was incredibly strong

2:07:09visually i just i think it would be

2:07:11really hard we didn't we didn't ask

2:07:12community members about their race or

2:07:14background or income or kind of personal

2:07:16qualities other than

2:07:18really making the master plan public so

2:07:21that we could get as much participation

2:07:22as processed so i i don't mean to be to

2:07:26be uh short with you at all but um

2:07:29how

2:07:30was it would a blind person be able to

2:07:31read that

2:07:34no

2:07:36so how would they know to re come

2:07:41well our website does it does have um

2:07:44measures for blind people people to be

2:07:46able or persons with blindness to be

2:07:48able to access that and then we could

2:07:50we would have provided them with a paper

2:07:52survey or you know facilitated them

2:07:55taking it but how would they know to

2:07:56look on it to get that far

2:07:58[Music]

2:08:00you you know what i'm saying

2:08:02yeah we did not have specific outreach

2:08:04in that area

2:08:06so i i would uh

2:08:10guess that there are shortcomings

2:08:12because of that and

2:08:14and if you you know likewise for

2:08:16different parts of the sit you know

2:08:18different parts of the city

2:08:20i mean it it um

2:08:24it's

2:08:25i've been to a number i've been stuck to

2:08:27huge numbers of public input processes

2:08:31across many agencies

2:08:33um especially transportation agencies i

2:08:36might add but the um

2:08:38if you

2:08:40if you just say come one come all and

2:08:42you advertise it

2:08:44in a in a certain way then nobody comes

2:08:47except

2:08:48a few

2:08:49people who regularly come to to meetings

2:08:51like

2:08:52that particular category of meetings and

2:08:56it's um

2:08:57so bad that another agency that i'm

2:08:59involved with

2:09:01ccta

2:09:02just decided to try and do uh public

2:09:05outreach another way

2:09:07because they were spending huge amounts

2:09:08of money on these public input sessions

2:09:11that really didn't

2:09:12get much participation

2:09:14and

2:09:15were not representative and had more

2:09:17staff than

2:09:19participants at them sometimes

2:09:22and so they did find some ways to get

2:09:24more

2:09:25uh input but the um

2:09:29that it makes me always uh suspicious

2:09:31about these public

2:09:33inputs and community processes that are

2:09:35not statistically valid

2:09:38um

2:09:39across the factors that are important to

2:09:41us

2:09:42i i think we're all on on

2:09:46probably everyone in this room and

2:09:48certainly everyone on the council

2:09:50is interested in having diversity

2:09:53represented

2:09:55and um

2:09:56so any anyway that's a concern that i

2:09:59that i have about this

2:10:02process

2:10:03if i could just mention that

2:10:05[Music]

2:10:06community input was just kind of one

2:10:08aspect

2:10:10one big aspect in how we develop these

2:10:12but we also

2:10:14use the criteria fulfills an unmet need

2:10:17which could

2:10:19involve like

2:10:21having more inclusive playgrounds for

2:10:23example which is in

2:10:25part of our policies and actions also

2:10:27service area so is

2:10:30is there an area with a large population

2:10:33that

2:10:34isn't being well served by what's

2:10:36available there

2:10:37potential revenue generation included in

2:10:40previous planning efforts which we have

2:10:42looked at accessibility issues as well

2:10:44as code and regulation compliance and we

2:10:47did update uh where applicable to parks

2:10:49and recreation facilities we did update

2:10:51the ada transition plan

2:10:53which addresses a lot of um

2:10:56improvements that need to be made such

2:10:58as playgrounds buildings facilities so

2:11:00maybe we did not directly reach but we

2:11:04feel like um a lot of the other

2:11:06processes had their interests in mind i

2:11:09well i understand your concern if you

2:11:11look at if you look at the ada it will

2:11:14tell you that you know you know there

2:11:16has to be so many inches across or you

2:11:19know specific measurements or things

2:11:21like that but if you look at can you

2:11:23actually get to the place

2:11:25um for example uh one of the uh

2:11:29problems with el cerrito really

2:11:32is that we don't have any transit

2:11:34it's not that we don't have any we

2:11:36hardly have any transit in the hills

2:11:39um you know as anyone who lives in the

2:11:41hills will be happy to

2:11:43to tell you you know there's no bus hard

2:11:46there's hardly any bus service in the

2:11:48hills and there are many places in the

2:11:49hills

2:11:50where there is in fact no bus service so

2:11:53if there's a park located there

2:11:56and you've got somebody who's transit

2:11:57dependent

2:11:59they can't get there

2:12:01so they won't really

2:12:03be able to use

2:12:06that park especially if they're say in a

2:12:08wheelchair and also canal can't use

2:12:11[Music]

2:12:13uber or lyft because they don't

2:12:15accommodate them

2:12:17so you know things like that

2:12:20it's not that it's not an ada issue it's

2:12:23a um

2:12:24it's covered by um

2:12:27the practicality of can somebody

2:12:28actually use it

2:12:30and the way you find out the answer to

2:12:32that is to head to have a

2:12:35a study

2:12:36that actually

2:12:37looks specifically at that group

2:12:40uh that you're trying to reach and see

2:12:43if they in fact can participate

2:12:45in it and um the um anyway that

2:12:50so i'm i'm concerned about

2:12:52um

2:12:54i'm concerned about that um and um

2:13:01and then i can't read my next item here

2:13:03let's see

2:13:05oh thank you for that

2:13:07oh then this one is is uh on a totally

2:13:10different

2:13:11topic and um

2:13:13this one has to do with our um

2:13:18scotch broom that we have so much of

2:13:20that's so pervasive

2:13:22and um

2:13:24and in the hillside natural area

2:13:28they we've got a lot of it is that right

2:13:30i see

2:13:32people who know the answer to that

2:13:33question over there yes we do yeah

2:13:35that's true okay so

2:13:38that's what's here now and it may i

2:13:40assume

2:13:41uh be protecting some sort of

2:13:45endangered species

2:13:47and for this uh councilmember lyman i'm

2:13:49looking at you

2:13:51well i don't know if there is or isn't

2:13:53but i assume there's a possibility and

2:13:55so scotch broom is not a native species

2:13:58to this area it's my understanding

2:14:01so if the scotch broom that we have

2:14:06is protecting the

2:14:08the

2:14:09native species

2:14:11that's endangered

2:14:14how does one look at

2:14:16the

2:14:19the removal of the scotch broom

2:14:22and the protection of the endangered

2:14:24species how does one look at that issue

2:14:29you know most

2:14:31most biologists will

2:14:33will say that the endangered species was

2:14:36did not adapt to these non-native plants

2:14:39and so

2:14:40most of them would understand that

2:14:41removing these invasive species

2:14:44is better for the ecosystem and would

2:14:46ultimately

2:14:47provide better habitat in in general for

2:14:50all of the native species including the

2:14:52endangered species so um

2:14:56you know a small broom removal project

2:14:58as long as there's a suitable

2:15:00replacement native place native species

2:15:02replacement

2:15:03would be

2:15:05totally supported by the plants so now i

2:15:07i take that discussion to a different

2:15:10plant

2:15:11and

2:15:13which is where i was really going in the

2:15:15first place

2:15:17and that's the eucalyptus trees which

2:15:19are not a native species in this area

2:15:22and

2:15:24so if

2:15:27if we were trying to improve

2:15:31a particular area by

2:15:33removing the

2:15:36eucalyptus trees

2:15:39we would not be ever expected to replace

2:15:42them with eucalyptus trees is that

2:15:44correct that's kind of what my question

2:15:45is yeah the the one benefit that

2:15:48eucalyptus trees may provide is raptor

2:15:50habitat and you can provide that but

2:15:52with dead eucalyptus trees so

2:15:55with specifically with eucalyptus trees

2:15:57removal of them is not a tremendous

2:16:00environmental uh

2:16:02issue for native species but for raptors

2:16:06uh eucalyptus actually have a negative

2:16:08impact on songbirds because of the gum

2:16:11that some of the eucalyptus trees

2:16:12generate so that so actually they are

2:16:14the eucalyptus trees are hazardous to

2:16:16some local songbirds

2:16:18and uh they can provide if it's hollow

2:16:21it can provide bat habitat but in

2:16:23general you can uh leave us what's

2:16:25called a snag

2:16:26a dead tree to provide the type of

2:16:29habitat that bats and raptors would use

2:16:31so from a perspective of removing

2:16:33eucalyptus trees

2:16:35there should be no issue okay

2:16:37thanks that that that kind of answered

2:16:39my question about that kind of a i'd

2:16:42just like to add that

2:16:44that

2:16:45um depending on the scope of the

2:16:48thinning or removal that that would be

2:16:50proposed

2:16:52one there would have to be a plan for it

2:16:53to be done and two that plan itself

2:16:55would have to be subject to sql review

2:16:58so

2:16:58while councilmember lymon just gave i

2:17:01believe a completely accurate

2:17:03answer as to one aspect in the abstract

2:17:06about eucalyptus tree removal any

2:17:09specific plan to remove a significant

2:17:12number of trees would have to be subject

2:17:14to its own review under sequa which

2:17:16would look at whether or not there are

2:17:17significant impacts as a result of that

2:17:19and what if any mitigation measures

2:17:21would be necessary to reduce those

2:17:22impacts to a less than significant level

2:17:24correct okay i would i was just i mean i

2:17:28was just wondering because i'm i'm not

2:17:30an expert in eir

2:17:33uh details right and i just want to i

2:17:35just want that's why i wanted to make

2:17:36sure that that was on the record and to

2:17:38be clear and that review is not has not

2:17:40been done as part of the initial study

2:17:42and mitigated negative declaration for

2:17:44this plan which is mostly operating at a

2:17:46conceptual level rather than it that

2:17:48then on a project level

2:17:50okay

2:17:52if i may build on that

2:17:54to the best of my knowledge from looking

2:17:55at this tree removal is not actually

2:17:57discussed in the plan at all

2:18:00great then the answer the answer for

2:18:01those are at home uh listening to this

2:18:03on tv is no

2:18:05so thank you okay i thought i heard a

2:18:07comment though made that was what

2:18:09actually made me

2:18:11write it down as a question

2:18:13i mean while we were discussing this

2:18:15item that's why i um

2:18:18that's i just that's why i wanted to

2:18:20bring up those two examples um

2:18:23and

2:18:24and um i don't know that i heard the

2:18:26word eucalyptus but in my mind i

2:18:28converted it to because i heard

2:18:30um

2:18:31some other

2:18:33it didn't matter what it was like any

2:18:34point take any plant the question is

2:18:36does the process

2:18:38and the thinking apply and it does and i

2:18:41think those are the

2:18:43um most significant uh things that i had

2:18:46thoughts about

2:18:48questions about that weren't already

2:18:50brought up thank you

2:18:53i wanted to add on to

2:18:55um just a little bit of what council

2:18:58member fidelity was saying in terms of

2:19:00centennial park i just wanted to

2:19:03make a comment that i happen to be there

2:19:04today and i it would be great if phase

2:19:08two did happen because there's one swing

2:19:11and there's like a mob of children that

2:19:14circle around the one sling

2:19:17so it's very

2:19:18the one sling is very popular so if we

2:19:20could

2:19:21expand swings at least growing up and

2:19:24using that park we had five swings there

2:19:27okay well yeah

2:19:28it's a it's one big swing that like two

2:19:31or three kids can fit on but um anyway

2:19:34it's very it's very popular and i'd love

2:19:36to see a big kid playground in addition

2:19:38to that that would be fun and replace

2:19:40the turtle head yeah and

2:19:42we're all sad about the turtle head

2:19:45yes

2:19:46um

2:19:47it's a sculpture at the park

2:19:50vandalized so definitely i just want to

2:19:52say did you guys know that our firm

2:19:54rhaa designed that turtle in the 70s

2:19:58barbara might have actually worked on it

2:20:00nice i hope you can help us help us get

2:20:03it back lots of pictures full circle

2:20:06okay um and then

2:20:08the other uh specific part question i

2:20:11had was um

2:20:13central park could you explain the

2:20:16relationship between el cerrito and

2:20:18richmond and possible plans for that

2:20:20park for the future

2:20:23yeah central park uh the majority of

2:20:26central park is in richmond but it's a

2:20:28weird border where el cerritos surround

2:20:31actually surrounds it on three sides

2:20:33and so we've had a long-standing

2:20:36agreement that

2:20:37el cerrito in exchange for maintaining

2:20:40it

2:20:41we would pro we would be able to program

2:20:43the field and the city of richmond does

2:20:45reimburse us a certain amount of that um

2:20:48maintenance

2:20:49but by and large um it's an el cerrito

2:20:51park in an el cerrito neighborhood that

2:20:54just kind of happens to be a little

2:20:57outlet of richmond i see so basically if

2:20:59we if we do want to

2:21:02revitalize and like say replace the

2:21:05the fixtures on their point on that

2:21:07playground

2:21:08then um richmond would probably not

2:21:11contribute to that or i mean is that

2:21:14basically on us to redo those those

2:21:16items

2:21:18you know i don't know what they would do

2:21:20ultimately at one time

2:21:23when measure ww first came out there

2:21:25were discussions of contributing jointly

2:21:27to central park but then

2:21:31their costs started going way up at the

2:21:33at the

2:21:34richmond natatorium the richmond plunge

2:21:36and they ended up spending all their

2:21:38money there

2:21:39so maybe

2:21:41we would certainly discuss we would

2:21:42certainly discuss that with them

2:21:44as we would any kind of design or

2:21:47improvements

2:21:49except in our little

2:21:50slice in the back

2:21:52okay and then speaking of pools um

2:21:56i know you said you were going to talk

2:21:58more about

2:21:59the the measure that will be proposed

2:22:02but uh just could you

2:22:04maybe

2:22:06mention briefly like i know that there

2:22:08were certain projects

2:22:11that were included in the previous

2:22:13measure a funding

2:22:15what percentage of the

2:22:18new

2:22:19potential funding would go directly to

2:22:22the pool and then kind of like how much

2:22:24of a how much of it would be left over

2:22:26for other potential projects

2:22:29so that hasn't really been

2:22:31determined yet if we followed this plan

2:22:34um i think doug had mentioned that

2:22:36there'd be 150 000 or

2:22:39or more available for non-swin swim

2:22:42center projects uh per year a year okay

2:22:44and um but we haven't crafted

2:22:48any sort of measure or anything like

2:22:50that to know any kind of percentages um

2:22:52and and when we talk about an extension

2:22:54we would really be talking about an

2:22:55extension of the tax rate so

2:22:58the um

2:23:00improvements that were made with this

2:23:01first one they're done they can come off

2:23:04the list

2:23:05you can add you know

2:23:07whatever you feel is appropriate to a

2:23:10future measure i see okay great

2:23:13and then

2:23:15also to talk about

2:23:17the future

2:23:18and

2:23:19how we could potentially pay for all of

2:23:21these things

2:23:23one of the things that

2:23:26i was wondering about was our bond

2:23:30rating

2:23:31and if an improved bond rating was taken

2:23:34into account with any of these figures

2:23:35or if that was with our current bond

2:23:37rating

2:23:41we didn't specifically make any

2:23:43assumptions about change in in the

2:23:45city's bond rating in fact we really

2:23:47just focused on

2:23:48trying to stay within city financial

2:23:51policies in terms of the the amount of

2:23:54bonding and debt service so

2:23:56so those sorts of considerations would

2:23:58be kind of the next level of refinement

2:24:01in in the analysis

2:24:02then i did have a question about

2:24:05um bond rating if maybe mr assaya could

2:24:08answer

2:24:10we were to take

2:24:12um for example our measure v funds and

2:24:16save them into the point where we could

2:24:19potentially improve our bond rating

2:24:22what kind of savings are we looking at

2:24:25where that could possibly turn over

2:24:28so just a couple of things on that

2:24:32if you have a bond rating based on a

2:24:34dedicated source of revenue that rating

2:24:36is separate from what you get from the

2:24:38general fund so for example measure is

2:24:40totally general fund money and that

2:24:42would improve the bond rating on

2:24:45say for example the city

2:24:47city hall

2:24:48that that we currently have the current

2:24:50bond rating on the city hall date is a

2:24:52minus

2:24:53so if you throw some money at that that

2:24:55could move up from a minus two or a plus

2:24:57and beyond or if you take the measure of

2:24:59funding that we currently have that has

2:25:01a higher bond rating than what the city

2:25:03has on city hall so that's a double a

2:25:05double a minus if i recall right so

2:25:08coming back to your question if you were

2:25:10to fund this thing through

2:25:11a measure swim center bond measure with

2:25:15dedicated funding sources the bond

2:25:17rating on that would be judged based on

2:25:19the strength of that funding source

2:25:21and typically a bond rating takes off

2:25:23half a point which is 50 basis points of

2:25:27the yield factor on any of these

2:25:28issuances so for example currently the

2:25:3210-year node is running at around two

2:25:33point

2:25:34around 2.5 percent yield through a

2:25:37margin on that that would break it down

2:25:38to 3.5 and if you have an excellent bond

2:25:41rating the 3.5 would drop it down to 3

2:25:43percent so that's the impact of an

2:25:45excellent bond rating meaning an a plus

2:25:48and above bond rating impact on that it

2:25:50buys down your cost of capital

2:25:52essentially and it also helps to

2:25:55uh defray the cost of uh

2:25:57bond insurance which is another aspect

2:25:59of this whole thing not just the bond

2:26:00rating alone right but it so

2:26:04i still don't quite understand is there

2:26:06a certain amount of savings that we

2:26:08would have that would

2:26:10that would improve our bond rating

2:26:13or is it

2:26:15i'm not sure if we're looking at i know

2:26:17we want to get up to 10 is is that what

2:26:19we're looking at to improve it or is it

2:26:22going to be higher than that

2:26:24so standard impose is the one that

2:26:26creates our agency at this point snp 51

2:26:29s p and in the recent past we've never

2:26:32hit 10 percent we bought around six to

2:26:34seven to eight percent and that was

2:26:35adequate for them to give us an a double

2:26:37a minus on one of these things

2:26:40but in the recent past in the last

2:26:42couple years that thing slipped down

2:26:43from a way minus to an a minus

2:26:46and the reserve ratio dropped to about

2:26:48two two point one percent so it's

2:26:49somewhere in the ballpark of that range

2:26:51but reserve ratios aren't the only thing

2:26:53that they look at they also look at

2:26:55other prospects such as growth in

2:26:57revenues cost control and so on and on a

2:26:59whole bunch of other things cash flow

2:27:01essentially i see

2:27:02okay thank you

2:27:04yes it is thank you

2:27:06and i did come up with a couple more

2:27:07questions while you guys were asking

2:27:10um

2:27:11i and i i want to

2:27:13acknowledge the really good work that's

2:27:15here

2:27:17and the how easy it is to try trace a

2:27:21concept from the body of the report into

2:27:23the appendices through your numbering

2:27:25system so i appreciate that

2:27:27i do also appreciate the the rating

2:27:29system that was used

2:27:32and to answer uh council member

2:27:33fidelity's question

2:27:35the immediate uh the iwp projects the

2:27:38immediate work projects is 657 thousand

2:27:41dollars 765 so it's it actually is a

2:27:44manageable number

2:27:46where i'm going with this though is that

2:27:48through our rating system

2:27:51we did rate

2:27:53some of the 52 that don't have cost

2:27:56estimates

2:27:57and so some of the 52 that don't have

2:27:59cost estimates

2:28:00came out at a priority of 13

2:28:04for example

2:28:05or a priority of 11

2:28:07and those are not trivial um

2:28:12at least the description that appears to

2:28:13be there is not trivial and so

2:28:16it it's like 2.6 which is the arlington

2:28:19park and clubhouse

2:28:21update and renovate the arlington park

2:28:23clubhouse to allow for additional

2:28:24programming that doesn't sound like a

2:28:26small estimate you didn't do the

2:28:28estimate i'm not saying you you should

2:28:30have done it i'm

2:28:32i'm trying to to get a sense of

2:28:34our 30 million

2:28:36with contingency is probably a

2:28:40significant underestimate of what is

2:28:42actually listed in 180 projects the

2:28:45other one is at the community center

2:28:47update and renovate the facility to

2:28:49expand services and create additional

2:28:50space for programming per the urban

2:28:52greening plan focus potential community

2:28:55center for fitness again another one

2:28:57that that

2:28:59the priority rating is a 13 so higher

2:29:02than some of the priority ratings that

2:29:04you actually did your financial model on

2:29:06in appendix

2:29:10i the schematic phasing

2:29:13in

2:29:14priority 11 the only a priority 11 that

2:29:17scored out

2:29:18was castro park expand and or renovate

2:29:21the clubhouse to accommodate additional

2:29:24program on weekdays for adults and

2:29:26consider adding teen space location next

2:29:29to koromatsu middle school

2:29:32so again just trying to to highlight

2:29:34that you put a lot of detail in here

2:29:37you've come up with a significant

2:29:38financial need

2:29:40but that fun the financial need that

2:29:42you've mapped throughout this document

2:29:45does not actually reflect all 180

2:29:47projects as you said in your

2:29:49presentation 52 didn't get estimated and

2:29:52some of those 52 are significant are all

2:29:55of the 52 relatively significant and

2:29:57that's why you were unable to

2:30:00define the scope and and get a cost

2:30:02estimate

2:30:05many of those 52 are policies and are

2:30:07proud programs

2:30:09so we couldn't determine a cost of how

2:30:11to implement that policy um and

2:30:15chris can correct me if i'm wrong but

2:30:17those two items that are at a 13 um

2:30:21are definitely important to the

2:30:22community but we also feel that by

2:30:25promoting the um

2:30:28multi-generational adult community

2:30:29center

2:30:30by creating that you will fulfill some

2:30:33of those needs and creating spaces for

2:30:36additional programming to occur great

2:30:38and that brings me to my next question

2:30:39because i am looking at um the appendix

2:30:42i which is your schematic phasing which

2:30:44mark i appreciate the actual modeling

2:30:47you've done here

2:30:50for those of us that are

2:30:51modelers it's all about when the cost

2:30:54occurs that matters

2:30:57and so in this particular case the

2:31:00priority 12

2:31:01the adult multi-generational center you

2:31:04have it projected it's 5 million dollars

2:31:07in projected in fiscal year 2324.

2:31:11again this is in

2:31:12you know in appendix i

2:31:15that five million is what you're

2:31:18projecting the 550

2:31:21or

2:31:22you've got a financing cost that comes

2:31:24out of the

2:31:25projected measure a extension and that's

2:31:28what drops it down on you one of the

2:31:30charts from a higher number down to the

2:31:32you know revenue for maintenance is 150.

2:31:35that so roughly the financing cost on

2:31:38five million dollars is about half a

2:31:39million a year

2:31:40is that the idea yes in round numbers

2:31:43and that's for a 20 year or 30 year

2:31:46refinance rate i believe that was a 20

2:31:48year 20 year

2:31:49and then um

2:31:51the

2:31:52going to your graph that's more or less

2:31:55still up

2:31:56you've got these large expenditures in

2:31:59in time and that the one i just

2:32:01highlighted is the one that's you've got

2:32:03shown on there is the tallest blue bar

2:32:06these other funding tranches that would

2:32:08occur you brought up the concept of uh

2:32:11policy and you and i appreciate that

2:32:13you're

2:32:14trying to dovetail with all of our

2:32:15policies

2:32:16and it's a five percent debt ratio to

2:32:19revenue or to operating costs to

2:32:22operating costs so your your

2:32:24as i as i interpret it your general fund

2:32:27expense budget

2:32:28is the measure there

2:32:31great thank you very much

2:32:34all right thank you

2:32:35um

2:32:36with that we'll go ahead and open the

2:32:38public hearing

2:32:41do you have any speakers on this item we

2:32:43have three speakers on this item the

2:32:44first speaker is al miller followed by

2:32:47dave weinstein

2:32:52good evening mayor okamoto pardo okamoto

2:32:55and council members uh my name is al

2:32:57miller and i live in el cerrito

2:33:02i'd like to build my comments on the

2:33:04importance that council member

2:33:07quinto gave about extending measure a

2:33:10and the transparency needed

2:33:13discussed by council member fidelity

2:33:16i have a

2:33:18mind experiment for you

2:33:21so i'd like each of you to mentally

2:33:23develop a venn diagram of how the

2:33:26following communities overlap in el

2:33:29cerrito

2:33:30the library community the senior

2:33:33community

2:33:34the swim community

2:33:36public safety and fire safety

2:33:38communities youth soccer youth baseball

2:33:42the tennis community the general rec

2:33:46recreation program community all the

2:33:49people that take classes at the

2:33:50community center the child care

2:33:53community

2:33:55plus those i haven't listed or i don't

2:33:57know about

2:33:59now

2:34:00each of those

2:34:03as you're hopefully visualizing this

2:34:05rather complicated diagram

2:34:08are affected by what you do tonight

2:34:11and how you develop a plan to accomplish

2:34:15all of the requirements not only for the

2:34:17rec services but for all these other

2:34:20communities

2:34:21you have all supported a new library for