All right, you hoodlums. We're calling this meeting to order. I now call the official San Juan Capastrano City Council meeting of March 18th to order. Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll. Councillor M. Ferries. Councillor Member Hart. Here. Councillor Member Taylor. Here. Mayor Proto-M Campbell. Here. Mayor Borden. Here. Could you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be offered by Council member Taylor and remain standing for invocation by Mayor Pro Tem. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to our great nation. fled to the Egypt, to the flag of the United States of America, and in two different by which it stands, one nation and under God, in indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good evening, everyone, and especially to our esteemed guests, the Fiesta Association on this very special night. Please bow your heads and take off your hats. Thank you, God, for gathering us here this evening. We're here to saddle up and tip our hats to the spirit that unites us. May our hearts guide our decisions tonight as we strive to build a town where every calpoke feels valued and respected. God, please protect our town. Our first responders as they protect us at the Swal's Day Parade. Now as we gather around this council fire, may our discussions be fruitful and our debates be respectful. In your name, amen. Amen. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. We'll be off. in executive session and took no reportable actions in that meeting. Also, before we get started on the consent calendar item E16 which has to do with the removal of some no parking restrictions is going to be pulled from the agenda we won't be dealing with that this evening. Mayor Pro Tem Campbell would like to recognize the commissioner's presence. Excuse me. Mayor Warren, we're requesting that you also pull item 17. We're going to do that too. Thank you. Item 16 and 17. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to introduce from our planning commission Ted Rosenfeld and Tammy Wilhelmhelm from Cultural Heritage and Addiconson is kind enough to join us. Parks and Recreation, we have Shelley Barker and Estero Compo here and last but certainly not least we have Jerry Meer who is our Youth Advisory Councilor. Thank you. All right, we have some presentations this evening. Madame Clerk, could you please read the name of the first presentation? Yes, thank you. The printouts correctly. Item B2 is made in executive session to require this apparel at each of our meetings. We would be unique in the county. We would get more people running for office or less. I'm not really sure. I think so too. Whereas March 19, 2025 is St. Joseph's Day. And whereas on March 19 of every year on schedule, the swallows return to the Mission San Juan Capastrano from their winter habitat in Argentina. Whereas the Fiesta de las Guadrinas celebrates the return of the Swallows to San Juan Capastrano and whereas the San Juan Capastrano Fiesta Association was founded to celebrate this occasion and to preserve the historical significance, paradedly and tradition of San Juan Capastrano and whereas the San Juan Capastrano Fiest Association has been designated the historical significance, heredity, and tradition of San Juan Capastrano and, whereas the San Juan Capastrano Fieste Association has been designated as the coordinating agency to plan, coordinate, and conduct official events associated with the 2025 Fieste de las and I can keep going all night. Whereas the San Juan Capastrano Fiesta Association has planned colorful events and activities for residents and visitors during the period designated as the Fiesta de los Colondrinas and whereas the Mercado and the 25th, 65th, 65th. Suállowes de Parade will be held on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025. I now therefore I now therefore Troy born as mayor of the City of San Juan Capastrana to hereby proclaim February 1st 2025 through April 30th 2025 as the fiesta de las colondrinas and urge all residents and visitors to join in celebrating the nature the return of the swallows to the city of San Juan Capastrana. All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. There. I've been asked to make a quick speech. May I say a couple of words? The microphone is yours. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, improving on the methods of the famed meteorologists of the past, I've been empowered by the powers that be to make certain that this upcoming weekend has fair skies. As a world where now I'm a political journalist, I carefully manipulate the atmosphere to induce artificial precipitation by sowing the clouds with what may be proprietary chemicals that I'm not under liberty to divulge. And if I can make a drain, I can easily make sure that it does not rain. And that is so that you have no doubt that my efforts have been working. During the last two weeks I have been draining the sky of unneeded precipitation, as you've probably noticed. Yes? Very good. Yes. And preventing any problems in this upcoming weekend. Who are you? Who am I? Did I hear someone say? M-I-W, from the land of Turkestan where Ottoman wander in care of ends, I climb the mountains high, cross desert sands, preventing rain as you demand. My name is Thaddeus Mack, Professor Thaddeus Mack, I've traveled all the world for you. Water held in the skies, not falling on pass or bice. A wondrous promise, but it's true. I've made the rain not fall. you'll see none at all. So all of San Juan will be full of smiles. The threat of rain is gone so swallows can come home. All courtesy of me, Professor Mack. And all of that without a applause sign. Some may look upon the rain maker and the rain preventer with suspicion. The rain making and rain generating and preventing technology that I use is so simple that if the average person were to know how it works, well, every man, woman or child would be making or preventing rain whenever they wanted to, this would be a real problem since there'd never be another political party or rally that would not be risk of being rained out by the opposing party. So as requested, I stand here to make sure that the 65th anniversary of the Swallow's Day parade does not experience a drop of rain. After the unexpected and overwhelming benevolent moisture that visited you last year, nor the rain preventing methodology available as effective as mine, none as reliable nor reassuring. No other Pluvaculture service has been devised to take care of a city's need, as been requested to prevent rain on a specific day this upcoming Saturday. Boulder Dash, I tell you, Boulder Dash. This is not Boulder Dash. This is not Ballyhoo. This is not Hocus Pocus. Simply, however, I do understand that some of you may have some reluctance believing in pluviculture and that I can prevent rain as I promise. But as company founder and general agent for the Pacific Coast and the Sandwich Islands, I will provide this service to the city of San Juan Capistrano not for $500, no. Not for $100, no. Not even for the palk resum of one single solitary dollar. I will be providing this at no cost, gratis free, completely free to the city, if I just get your word, sir, that you will let this parade go on this Saturday. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls that may be here, do you want it to be rain-free this weekend? All day during the swell as they parade? So what say you, Mr. Mayor? Very good Thank you Gary McCarver outstanding Mr. Mayor I'll be help Yeah, I didn't want to step on your applause go ahead Gary McCarver outstanding. Mr. Mayor, I'll go. Yeah, I didn't want to step on your applause. Go ahead. Gary McCarver, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. On behalf of the Fiesta Association, I'd like to present you with our 2025 commemorative belt buckle. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. And I'll trade you. I'm not sure. Thank you. And all for Maloney aside, thank you so much for everything you guys do for this town. It is so fun. It's special. Everyone in South County knows it is. And it's this sort of thing that keeps it going. So appreciate all the volunteer hours that you guys put in. And on the day of the event, thanks for all the support you provide the community. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Thank you. Come on up. Good picture. Good idea. Good picture. Good idea. Good picture. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're squeezing it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. We're going to squeeze it in. want to be in the now, you need to be in the front out. Those must be used to get able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. Look at it everyone. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk. Yes item D3 is presentation by Santa Margarita water districts. Thank you. Hello Mr. Mayor and City Councilman. I'm Laura Freese with Santa Margarita Water District and I came here with Rob Grantham, the general manager, to speak about real quickly about water and where we are today, where San Juan Capastrano is today. It is not easy to follow Professor Mac, but we did decide we want to hire him because we could use the rain now and again. Really what this is is just a quick presentation that we want to do yearly to let you know what's going on, not only in the Santa Marguerita Water District as a whole, but in San Juan Capastrano. Also lately,, one of the big topics of conversation that we see and hear over and over again, is how prepared are we in case of a catastrophe? So I'm gonna let Rob talk about the pretty pictures that are gonna be up there, and I'll do the closing. Thank you. Thank you. Merry members of the council, Ben. I'd also like to acknowledge Director Sondar Jacobs who is also here in attendance tonight. Thank you for coming. Well it's really an honor to be here. I was part of starting this journey many years ago and then they kicked me out to Mecula, Riverside County and then been let me come back. It's really an honor serving this community as a general manager. So you're very well aware of who we are as a district. We serve a large area, about a quarter million people. You know, just in perspective, I did ask one of the council members the other day, how much do you think our system's worth? And it's $3 billion. It's a large system. And so perspective for the average person. And I say if we put our varied infrastructure, laid it out, and end to end, we could go about 200 miles past Omaha. And so we have a lot of infrastructure, and really serving in the community. One other thing, we serve about $35 million a year just to upgrade our system to keep it going. And so that's really a hallmark of public health and safety. We're very proud to be environmentalist and deliver water here to the city as well throughout our service territory. A lot of folks don't know, but our water comes from over 500 miles away. The majority of it from Colorado River, Sacramento, Sacramento Delta. And And so what that means is that we invest in wastewater treatment highly, highly technical wastewater treatment so we can preserve every drop we can. But we also have local supply and that's a hallmark of this city having the ground water plant. And so we continue to make major investments in upgrading this system. And to that end, just past since taking over the system in 2021 we've made over $30 million in investments and we're very proud of that We're also conducting a master plan to look at what other deficiencies we have we have an ongoing joke that many of the pipes Water pipes in the city were put in by father Sarah and so there's a you know There's a thank you to the community at large as we're there and we're upgrading the system. Thank you for your patience. We had a pipe break in downtown and it's great. In the sense that we get to go in and rebuild it, but there's also the thank you for your time and patience as our teams are in the streets and doing that work. Director Freese said, I thought we'd spent more money and the thing I was very proud of is we've been able to keep costs down in many different ways, one of which is our operation staff is in there making those capital improvements. So creating that reliability. And so we're looking at many different ways to bring down costs but also develop the system that you all want, that contemporary system that we able to then meet fire flow needs, etc. So to that end, just in the city alone, and we serve four cities, the unincorporated county, again about a quarter million people. We have nine reservoirs, 1700 fire hydrants. And so again, that conversation about fire, which we'll talk about in a second, industry best practice, exercise, it's a valve, turn it, exercise that every three years, you go in and maintain it, we're on a schedule about 18 months. So we're twice best business practice because that's really critical in terms of serving the community. I mean, that's an active valve. We've been upgrading the groundwater plant. We have local supply here in the city where we don't the rest of the district. And so being able to utilize that asset that the city built many years ago means not only do we have reliability, but it also means we're able to bring down costs by having, by being able to utilize those assets. I like the statistic just in the city alone, 2.3 billion gallons of water used a year. It's quite a, quite, and you're very good about conserving water and using it effectively, but it's still quite a lot of water. But really the moment that we just went through, the devastation that we just experienced up in LA. Several months ago, we had the airport fire. 17,000 acres really came within a mile and a half of one of our large reservoirs. We're very proud of what we did to protect and coordinate with our other agencies. Cal Fire, I gave a presentation last week with a gentleman from Cal Fire talking in here of the community around Baya. Just people are worried. And so the director of freeze is gonna talk about that communications, but okay, so where's the comfort for the community? We have half a billion gallons of drinking water and storage. So if a pipe breaks, we have water and storage to continue to serve the community, not only for public health and safety, but keeping the economic viability of the city and our district going. Three billion gallons of recycled water in reservoirs. And so if anyone wants to see the video, I've got videos of helicopters coming in 24-7 for three days, taking water out or recycled water ponds to fight the airport fire. LA was devastating. And then that moment reached out to Ben, reached out to the other port fire. L.A. was devastating. In that moment, I reached out to Ben and reached out to the other City managers that were prepared. We've done everything we can. We have backup power, etc. Please communicate to the council on my behalf, on the board's behalf, because we want to give comfort to the community. Our municipal system is system, a municipal system isn't designed to fight, you know, the Cleveland National Forest Fire, but what we it is designed to do is protect inside the community. And so that's what I kind of wanted to come here tonight more than anything else and say, we're continuing to upgrade the system. Thank you for your support as we do it. We need to build additional fire storage, particularly in downtown, but it's really with an honor and pleasure that we've really taken on the system and I'm very grateful for the support and also the faith that you place in us and allowing us to take over the system. So with that, I'd like to turn it back over to Director Freeze. Thank you Rob. No matter how well we do, if we don't communicate it, no one's going to know. And so one of the biggest things is communicating what we're doing and how prepared we are and what people have to do. One thing is when the LA flyers were going on, Rob reached out to the city managers of all the cities in the district so that city manager's knew what we were doing and could aid us and we could aid you. So, that's one of the many things. The other was we've been putting out if you've seen your on tap. It comes on your in your email mailbox and it tells you what's going on and what to do, how to act, etc. with what's going on with any sort of crisis. I think the most important thing we can do is tell people how to protect themselves rather than us just say we're going to be there for you because you never know what's going to happen. So with that, that's it. It keeps us in mind because we'll be here next year. Hopefully not on the same day as the Fiesta Association, but you never know. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. Thank you. Thanks, Laura. Take care, guys. We'll now move to oral communications and just a reminder for the public. This is the portion of the meeting where the public is invited to speak on anything that is not on the agenda. So if we're going to be talking about it later in the meeting, hold your thoughts and we'll get to those comments when we get to that item. But if you want to talk about something that's not agendas, this is your window. If you please limit your comments to three minutes, appreciate it. Madam Clerk, do we have anybody who's requested to speak? Yes, I have Brian DeFranco, followed by Guadalupe Silva, followed by Edward Sierra Sierra and Kimberly Ventura. Great. Go ahead. I'll get my paper. Good evening everyone. My name is Brian DeFranco. I'm here on behalf of Assemblywoman Lori Davies. I just wanted to provide the council as well as the residents. a quick update on a couple bills that have been flying around in Sacramento that I'm sure have drawn quite the curiosity. So real quick, AB615, I want to give you the status. So this is Assemblywoman Davies' bill. This bill ensures that energy facility applications have to include emergency preparedness plans to ensure first responder capabilities can be met in the case of a disaster. And this has actually passed the rules committee and has now been referred to the assembly committees on emergency management as well as the utilities and energy committee. So that's the current traction, that's the current status. We would appreciate any support from the city and Chamber of Commerce to support this common sense measure. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate. Reach out to our San Juan Capastrano district office, which is five minutes down the road, right off communal Capastrano, or our Sacramento office. Lastly here, AB 303. Let me give you the status on this one. This is a measure by Assemblywoman Dawn Addis for a moratorium on all new battery storage facilities. It's been referred to the assembly committees on utilities and energy, natural resources as well as the committee on local government, so a total of three committees. The Assemblywoman has talked with the author about including the desired amendments requested by the City of three committees. The assembly woman has talked with the author about including the desired amendments requested by the cities of San Juan and Laguna de Gell and the author is hesitant at the moment, so we will keep you updated if she decides to make the changes requested by the cities. So I've got, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Guadalupe Silva, followed by Ed Yard of Sierra and Kimberly Ventura. Good evening everyone. I'm Guadalupe Silva. I feel free to call me Loupé. I am one of the few people today speaking on behalf of the Youth Advisory Board and I am thrilled to share with all of that. We have been up to in the past couple of days. We've been busy gearing up for the upcoming swallows they parade. And I've meant that truly means a lot to our community and we look forward to every year. This year we're excited to showcase a brand new banner that we can't wait to wave proudly as we march. In addition to taking part in the parade, we're also pleased to announce that we'll be selling tasty snacks in the morning at San Juan Elementary. Our aim is to make sure all parade participants and spectators have plenty of options to keep their energy up throughout the day. We look forward to seeing everyone there and sharing in the excitement of this fantastic event. Thank you all for your time and I hope you have a good rest of your day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Ed Heard Sierra, followed by Kimberly Ventura. Okay, so good evening. I'm going to go to the committee. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.za which we will be doing face painting, bead making and button making and it's going to be a fun time. We're eager for that and hopefully one of you guys can come over to get your face painted. That'll be an interesting time and we're also going to be participating in the Adenino. That's how that believes Stonefield which is a day event dedicated for kids. So we'll also be doing face painting, bead making and by making. And it's just for eager to be there and just get back to our community. Thank you. Thank you. Kimberly Ventura. Good afternoon. My name is Kimberly Ventura from a part of the youth. Will you pull that microphone down? Oh, sorry. There you go. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Kimberly Ventura from a part of the Youth Advisory Board. And today, I would like to share about the new club. We have created called Service for Change at our high school San Juan Hills. We partnered up with Greth, another great organization that helps students in this city to get insight from not only our youth but also theirs. It's a great opportunity for many to get involved with what Yavis about and how to become part of them from outside of school. There is many community service opportunities for students to participate in, and it is also a great way for many to collaborate with one another. Our club, our club has recently had a small election where we participated in, and we hope to grow our club as the years go on with the help of our students. We recently gave a new community service opportunity in order to help them raise above and become better leaders. Thank you for listening and have a great rest of your nights. That's all we got. All right. Thank you. Then we'll go on to public hearings. Madam Clerk, could you read the title of item D1, please? Item D1 is Code Amendment 24-007, Introduction to an Ordinance, Amending Section 9-3.501-1 accessory dwelling units of Title IX of the City city's municipal code. Thanks. Can we please have a staff report? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of the city. I want to compliment the clerk by the way for reading the title of that item which was a small paragraph. That's good. As well then. Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, Joel Rohast to the services. essentially what ADUs are our second units that are independent of the primary residents. They can be attached or detached. There's also what we refer to as junior ADUs and those are ADUs that are less than 500 square feet or less within a residence. We as on average approve 8 to 10 junior ADUs last ADUs per year. The state is very involved with ADU regulations, and that's because the state wants to see a lot of ADUs be built because the state believes that that would address the city's housing needs. And so the state laws essentially limit the city's ability to regulate or deny ADUs. Every year, as the council knows, the state further amends the state ADU laws to further restrict and make it easier for ADU applicants to go through the city approval process. Last year is no different. New ADU laws were approved that went into effect on January 1 of this year because of that back in November of 2024 the city council approved an urgency ordinance that amended our local code to make our code consistent with the state law that went into effect on January 1st. After that occurred in December we received a letter from the state with some comments about our ADU ordinance and this is because the state, like I said, is very interested in AD regulations in a periodically review all the AD regulations from all the cities up and down the state to identify any requirements that are not consistent with the state law. The state identified a couple issues with our ordinance that I will address. And again, the city is, we are required to update our ordinance to match the state law. And we did that with the urgency ordinance that passed in November. And now we're before you with a non urgency ordinance. So let's cover the, as a refresher, this is what, these are the regulations that went into effect January this year, that were passed last year, that are already in place thanks to the urgency ordinance that was adopted in November. Essentially AB 25333, sorry, prohibit cities from denying a permit to legalize an unpermitted ADU built before January 1st of 2020 except where health and safety code violations exist. And then we have SP 1211 which does a few things. The prohibit cities from requiring placement parking when uncovered off-street parking spaces demolished to accommodate an ADU. It adds a definition of livable space as ADUs are allowed within portions of existing multifamily structures not used as livable space and it allows up to eight to test ADUs or as many ADUs as there are existing units, whichever is less, on a lot with an existing multifamily structure. And again, these are currently in place. Then the state identified a couple items that they would like to see addressed. One, the state asked that we remove the junior ADU short term rental prohibition as a state law, ADU law, only prohibits short term rental of ADUs. This does not mean that you can use your junior ADU to rent it out short-term rental because we have our zoning orders that prohibits short-term rentals throughout our all single family residential districts. So this is just making sure that our ADU ordinance matches the state AD ordinance. And the second item at the state requested is that we remove the deed restriction requirement for ADUs as state law only allows deed restriction for junior ADUs. So these changes are new and they're in the ordinance that is before you this evening. And so back on January 22nd, the planning commission reviewed the draft ordinance before you and adopted a resolution recommending that the city council adopt the ordinance. So the first step is introduction. So tonight staff is recommending that the city council introduce an ordinance emitting section 9-3.501 of the city's land use code making the city's 80 regulations consistent with state law and fighting at said action. said action is exempt from the California the California Environmental Quality Act. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Is there any member of the council have questions for your staff? I have a good question. Council member Taylor? Yeah, Joel, do homeless associations or CCNRs use the state regulations or does the state, HOH are bound by the state laws. They're on the state laws. Thank you. Mr. Rawls, I have a question on the permitted adus of the, it's a JADU, a provision of JAD. So that's a junior ADU? Yes, junior ADU. If there is some legislation, I believe in the state, and I was wondering if we have that legislation, if it has to be approved on a citywide basis, to allow a separate APN number for each ADU. Is that, tell us about our municipal code report? Well, there's legislation that allowed, I guess, a junior or 80s to be sold off separately, is that I think the reference? Yes. That legislation allows cities to adopt an ordinance to allow that. So it's not automatic. A city has to adopt an ordinance to allow for 80s to be sold separately. We did not adopt such an ordinance, so that's not allowed here. Most cities have not done that because there's a lot of complications with how that occurs. Thank you. Councillor More to do anything. With no other question or staff, I'm going to open the public hearing. Anybody want to talk to us about this item? No mayor. Okay. Then we'll bring it back for any comments here. Before you guys make a motion, which I can sense is about to happen. This is another one of those items that more and more the state government is taking control of what historically used to be controlled by local municipalities that relate to our housing elements. So if you have concerns about these items, we can provide you with the names of your state, as standard and state assembly and contact information then but we would encourage you to reach out to them and let them know what parts of these might be, you might be supportive of or troubled by. But it's, you know, it used to be years ago that you come in here and a lot of these decisions about local land use, we're being made here by local government officials, the people that you elected a new personally, and more and more, that's just not the case in California where we have to comply with state regulations that we might choose to do differently in our town. But that's my only comment on that. That's more right. I just like comment that this is the public hearing equivalent of a teeth cleaning. You have to do it about once a year. It seems like it's about as pleasurable and then entertaining. And next year, Mr. Lopez could do it in musical form. I think we'd all appreciate it. But yeah, it just seems like every year the state comes back with another ADU thing. And it's just fact of life, as you mentioned. With that, I'll move for staff recommendation. Second. Motion to second, all in favor? I have. Matter passes unanimously. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of item D2? Before moving on to D2, I want to read the title of the ordinance. Thanks, Joel. And ordinance of the City Council of the City of San Juan Capistrano, emending the city's land use code regulating accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units to ensure consistency with state law and finding that the action to be exempt from CEQA under Public Resources Code section 21-080.17. And then now moving on to item D2, is adoption of an interim ordinance further extending urgency ordinance number 1116 prohibiting new commercial battery storage systems within the city of San One cap strina. We have a staff report please. Yes, thank you, Mayor. Good evening members of the City Council, Matisse, rightful assistant city manager. As the City Council is aware, NG North America is proposing to construct a commercial battery energy storage system or best facility located on the approximately 13 acre project site currently owned by Saddleback Church in the northern portion of the city adjacent to Camino, Capastrano, and Interstate 5 to the east. The proposed best project would be composed of lithium iron phosphate batteries or a similar technology, a switchyard, a collector substation, and other associated equipment to connect into an existing San Diego gas and electric SUGENI transmission line located approximately 500 feet from the project site. Essentially the facility would charge from the grid when excess renewable energy is available and discharge during peak demand hours. Importantly, the city's current zoning regulations do not contain regulations or criteria specifically addressing best facilities. And in November 2022, the city council denied the property owners requested Resom study thereby preventing the project from moving forward. Following City Council's denial, the applicant informed City staff of its intention to bypass the city review process and instead pursue state approval via the California Energy Commission or CEC as allowed under state legislation designed to expedite the construction of renewable energy projects. The applicant has submitted their application to the state, they did so in April 2024, and continues to work toward a complete application submittal. If and when the CEC deems the application complete, the CEC is required to prepare an environmental impact report and make its final decision on the project at a public meeting within 270 days of receiving a complete application. This action by the applicant to file the application with the CEC increased the urgency for the city to evaluate if, how and where commercial best facilities can be accommodated safely in San Juan Capastrano. The potential development of new commercial best facilities within the city without adequate land use policies and standards to ensure public safety and prevent potentially catastrophic impacts poses an immediate threat to the welfare of San Juan Capastrano and surrounding communities. Consequently, at its April 2, 2024 meeting, the City Council adopted urgency ordinance number 1116, an interim ordinance prohibiting any commercial best facility within the city's boundaries. Ordinance number 1116 was scheduled to expire on May 17, 2024, 45 days after its adoption. And following that on May 7, 2024, the City Council adopted urgency ordinance 1119, extending ordinance 1116 for 10 months and 15 days, following the initial 45 day period, to provide staff with additional time to study the potential impacts of commercial best facilities. Since the first extension, public safety concerns remain. For example, there have been several fires at commercial best facilities both in California and nationwide. In January 2025, a significant incident occurred at the Moss Landing Power Plant in Monteray County where a fire broke out at the facility's battery storage site. Leading to the evacuation of nearby residents, closure of schools and offices due to the release of a toxic plume as a result of the fire. Accordingly, staff is requesting additional time to finalize its recommendations for city council consideration, conduct further research into appropriate zoning regulations, and explore necessary updates to the city's general plan and zoning regulations to mitigate the safety risks associated with commercial best facilities. As such, staff recommends this evening that the City Council adopt an interim ordinance to extend for a second time the city's prohibition on new commercial battery energy storage systems within the city for a period of one year. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Matisse. Any questions from the Council for staff? Any comments or questions from the public? Someone in the public cares about this? Yes, I have speakers. Teresa Ford, followed by Kathleen Pryor and Ron Cabrera. Good evening everyone. My name is Teresa Ford and I am a representative of Blesin. I'm also a member of Coalition of 12 different counties. It's called Californians for Safe Energy Storage. I'm also a resident of Laguna Ngael, your neighbor. And the reason I'm here today is to urge you to extend this ordinance. 11. Also, a resident of Laguna, Ngael, your neighbor. And the reason I'm here today is to urge you to extend this ordinance 11-16. The reason for that is I remind you of the Moss Landing Fire and the two things that I want to point out, number one, a report that was done by San Jose State University after that fire found heavy metal concentrations and high concentrations 20 miles away from the fire. also with the Monterey County Board of Health, they also have reports of residents with symptoms such as respiratory issues, bloody noses, rashes, severe burns in their mouths as far away as 20 miles. And as you know, Laguna Nagell was just on the other side of the hill. So what you decide will definitely have an effect on our community. Thank you. Please put emphasis on the safety for the communities. Good evening, Council. I am Kathleen Prior. I am with the board of the Laguna Heights Homeowners Association. We occupy that bluff. Attached, a little presentation I gave each one of you. And it shows on the City of Laguna and Agile website, which has come out against this best facility, the outline of the actual boundary between the city of Yluguninigal and San Juan and then following that because our HOA was founded before Luguninigal you can see we own over 200 acres of San Juan Capastrano. We actually are part of your city. Can we appreciate those taxes? Thank you. We wish. But you know what what we would like to offer is our help in raising funds to fight this situation. We know you need expert reports and things like that. People can donate to us. We've done a lot of work where a tax exempt organization. We can accept donations and turn them into specialized reports. The city can use and doesn't have to fund. And I would like to include part of the record here for the people of San Juan. I'd like them to have a copy of the letter from Fairmont Schools objecting to this because of the location, which is our problem too. We are not against green energy. It's this location. Fairmont Schools said it would be a terrible situation if there was an evacuation. J. Sarah High School's principal also wrote a letter exactly with the same message. The congestion, the traffic, and the urgency of getting children out of an area that is subject to fire, toxic fumes. Also the Orange County traffic authority had weighed in with the CEC saying that that road leading to this parcel was inadequate, was inadequate, never meant to support the heavy traffic, containers, trucks of 13 acres of concrete across it, and then that would cross railroad lines. You also have a letter from MetroLink objecting to this on that same ground and from Law San. So we have some really important people that agree with the city of San Juan. This is not the right location for that battery facility and we want to join with recommendation and give you some of the reasons why. I was a firefighter for 30 years with LA County Fire Department and I have seen first hand the challenges that complex fires present, particularly those involving emerging technologies like battery energy storage systems. Fires at such facilities are not only difficult to extinguish but often require a defensive, let it burn approach. As water proves ineffective, these delays can have devastating consequences, especially in residential neighborhoods like ours where toxic smoke from battery fires could endanger the lives of thousands of residents. Battery storage testing standards like UL 9540A, while helpful, fall short of providing the robust data needed to handle catastrophic events effectively. From my experience and fire response, I understand the long-term consequences of toxic emissions on both human health and the environment. Lithium ion battery fires release a harmful mix of gases and fine particulate matter. Studies such as those from University of Nevada, detail how these particles can cause severe respiratory issues and environmental contamination. Hydrogen fluoride, a highly dangerous compound is released in alarming quantities during such fires, posing an immediate threat to the surrounding community. These statistics are not just numbers. They represent a significant risk to lives and property in San Juan, Capastrano. As someone who has dedicated a career to protecting communities, I urge this council to continue its efforts to ensure the safety of our residents. I recommend requiring large-scale, real-world testing that goes beyond the UL 9540A standards before conceding to projects of this nature. We need comprehensive data on fire behavior, toxic emissions, and emergency response measures. Until such data is available, approval of this project would place our community at unnecessary risks. Too great to ignore. We must continue to advocate for alternative locations or technologies that do not compromise the health and safety of our residents and first responders. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, my name is Michael McGrady and I'm President of the Hidden Creek Homeowner Association. The home is directly adjacent to the proposed location separated only by Osso Creek. I also have the pleasure of being part of bless and as well. We've seen the ribbon cutting ceremonies, smiling faces, proclaiming clean energy, guaranteed safety. Considering the recent Moss Landing Fire, at its launch, promises of a sustainable future filled the air. We were assured unequivocally that, I quote, the project will not have a significant cumulative effect upon the environment. It will not cause substantial adverse effects on human beings either directly or indirectly. These were not mere suggestions. They were firm declarations, assurances to the community, yet what has now happened since the opening of these ceremonies. Weeks of uncontrolled fire, plumes of toxic smoke, evacuations, medical emergencies, and heavy metals in the surrounding soil. And when the flames finally subsided, what was the industry's response? That's agent technology. And this isn't an isolated incident with each successive fire of familiar pattern emerges. The proponents, those with a substantial financial interest in the proliferation of these systems, dismiss the failures as relics of a bygone era. Escott Murdersha, executive director of that industry's California Energy Storage Alliance, so readily put it after the recent Escondito fire, a system only a few years old. Oh, that's ancient technology. But I ask, if it's ancient technology today, why was it cutting edge state of the art and safe just yesterday? Why were those same systems now deemed obsolete the centerpiece solution to our energy woes? The truth is, the technology isn't ancient when it's being installed, when it's generating profits, garnering public support. It becomes ancient when it fails, when it endangers lives, and when it reveals the inherent risks conveniently overlooked in the pursuit of profit and progress. of outtake systems have been reliably installed for over 50 years. Lithium battery technology continues to finish its engineering and development in the field. In the field next to our homes, schools and memory care facilities. The fires at Moss Landing, Escondido, Ote, Mesa, and other facilities are not anomalies. They are warnings. They are stark reminders that the rush to implement dangerous technologies can have devastating consequences. We cannot afford to sacrifice the safety of our communities on the altar of expediency and profiteering while all along singing pretty hymns of green energy. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and City Council. Thank you for having me. You speak tonight. My name is Dana Butler-Mobert. I'm the CEO of the Shea Center here in San Juan Capastrano. And everybody is so eloquently, by the way, we're neighbors across the street from Fairmont. So if you need a letter from me, let me know. Yes, I do. So I want to talk about something else. And this is, everybody's aware of the fires of the safety risks. But I'd also like to talk a little bit more about the location of this facility to our beautiful residential community and our open spaces. And the per safety risks, but I'd also like to talk a little bit more about the location of this facility to our beautiful residential community and our open spaces and the perfect set of terrible circumstances that could happen. I ride out there, I'm a reswomen, and so, and we take our clients, and this is more than 1,200 people with disabilities, children, adults, combat veterans, and these people enjoy the beautiful open space that belongs to the city of San Juan Capastrano and currently to our neighbors. And this area is essentially the match to a flame. And in the right terrible conditions like we saw in the Palisades fires, if this energy facility had just that wrong moment, it's a terrible, terrible consequence that this fire, it wouldn't just be the flames. It would take off and head straight south, and there are four equestrian facilities due south of this facility within a one and a half mile radius. And there's a thousand horses, they'll never get out in time. There's all the people who love them. There are more than 7,000 residents who live in the villas, and these families will not be able to evacuate in time. And there is, by the way, if you've ever been over in that area, I love our neighbors, but don't come during drop-off or pick-up for school hole. and it's really hard to manage this. So there's other concerns. And I spoke at a planning meeting last year. Our firefighters give so much for us. Why do we want to put them in harm's way by allowing the center community? Why would we do that? I really support your extending this ordinance. And we are more than happy to support any efforts and anything that the city needs from us to oppose this. I understand the California Energy Commission has their workarounds for this, but we need to find ones that support our community. These facilities, if they have a place, because battery technology is evolving by the minute. And to the other speaker's point, this type of technology is becoming rapidly obsolete. By the time they build it, it won't be relevant. And we will be at risk. So thank you for hearing me, and thank you for your support of safety, for our open spaces, and protecting protecting our first responders and all the vulnerable communities in the path of an extraordinary fire should something happen in that terrible wrong perfect moment. Thank you. Okay. Close the public hearing. I'm going to the general open comments. I don't get it say a bunch because it's not a gen dies and we really shouldn't have a meeting about things that aren't in the agenda. But when you guys comment about things that are on the agenda, we do get to respond on the record a little bit. Don't take this the wrong way. You guys are at the wrong meeting. Okay, and let me tell you what I mean by that. We are doing everything possible and have been for a long time to keep this from happening inside of our community. We've studied it, worked it, made appropriate votes when we had the flexibility to do so before they went around us to the state, and we're fully committed. Whether or not we can be successful, we'll see. I really appreciate your comments about the expense associated with fighting something like this because in order to fight something like this, there's a legal battle, and you're going against well-funded groups and individuals who have a profit motive and an ideological motive and are willing to commit significant funds to it. But there's also engineering reports, studies, fire safety, the stability of the creek. There's, it just countless studies and every time we prepare one of the studies, so that we're prepared to engage, when the satclition is deemed complete, it costs a ton of money. We're in about a half a million dollars at this point, for a city that's, we're not coastamasa, and now I might speak really directly. We're also not Lagoon and a Gell. And the closest homes, as you guys well know, to this plan are Lagoon and a Gell homes. And we really appreciate all of the verbal support that we've received from that city council. Okay. It would be really fantastic if some of the support were nonverbal. It sends a message to the state when a city says we're really opposed to this but we're not willing to pay for the opposition to it. Lagoon and a Gale is in a different financial circumstance in the city of San Juan Capastrano. That's just an issue of the number of residents in the financial situation when a newer city came into town. I used to live, we lived on Mirovista, so in your home on associations directly across the street from the top of the slope. So I'm very familiar with the Ariannam, relatively familiar with Lagoon and the Gallus finances. It would be great if they could help bear the load. And I think it would send a strong message to the state of California that both cities were committed to make sacrifices to keep these residents safe. You're going to be because we have superior studies and superior legal arguments, and those are expensive and we need help. So if you could please go back to the city of Lugan and McGell and ask them to support this financially, I think that will be very helpful. Can't go back and forth. Any other comments? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I really appreciate some of the comments. One that grabbed me was, you know, every time we see a fire, they come back and say, well, that was old technology. And then the next fire happens for the newer technology. And they say, well, that was old technology. And when this one catches fire, the next one they'll say, well, that was old technology. And they'll move on. And it's just a show game. You know, and they just keep playing it. When this first came before our council, gosh, probably, I don't know, a couple of years back, a year and a half back. Our neighbors from Saddleback Church, I remember, like it was yesterday, came up before us and said, we want to be good neighbors. We want to be good neighbors. Well, we denied the permit at our level. And ever since then, shortly after the state passed laws that said that the cities could not stop it and it would be controlled at the state level. And suddenly, they're interested in being good neighbors evaporated. Good neighbors don't put battery storage facilities where there's restricted access. Below communities adjacent to other communities. Next to rail lines. Next to waterways. That could be polluted. Next to the I-5 freeway. Next to three schools in a junior college. That's not good neighborliness. But here we are and we're fighting an uphill battle against uphill battle against the well-funded profit and incentivized opponent and a state hell-bent on building as many of these as we want and we're not I don't think anybody up here I won't speak for everybody else I could speak for myself. I'm not against battery storage facilities I'd be willing to build a mouse where in our community in our city. We have other places that are more conducive for them. And I'd be willing to consider them there. But this is the wrong location. I couldn't think of a worse location for it, quite honestly, unless you were to plop it downtown and yet our good neighbors at Saddleback Church have decided this is the place thanks and so I will be I will be voting for the staff recommendation. Any other comments? Okay, motion. I'll make a motion to approve staff recommendation. Second. All in favor? Aye. That man passes unanimously unanimously. We're now moving to the consent calendar and remember that we have rem- Excuse me, ma'am. I need to read the title of the ordinance. Would you do that for us? Yes. An interim ordinance of the City Council of the City of San Juan Capuchano, extending for a second time urgency ordinance number 1116 for having a new commercial battery energy storage systems within the city of San Juan Capistano, adopted as an urgency measure and finding the action to be exempt from sequa. Thank you. Now can I move to consent? Thank you. The consent calendar contains items that are considered typically routine and so we'll vote on all of them with one vote. Reminder that item E16 and item E17 were pulled from the agenda for tonight's meeting so we won't be voting on those. Does anybody on the City Council need to, would they like to pull an item or recuse from an item? Here we are. Hearing none. I do have one speaker for item e7. Great. Welcome. Is that a telephone speaker? Great. Do you want to move for the balance? Yep. I bet I'm waiting for someone that John wants to move for the balance. Second. So we're going to vote on everything other than item e7. E7. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously and now we'll hear from the public. Member of the public on item E7. Yes, one more why I call them. Thank you. And it is Miriam Swinga. Yeah. You could do a staff report. We will have to. We voted on everything. We have a note on what it was. I'm pretty comfortable go to the next slide. Hello, City Council members and staff and members. My name is Media. I feel bad for not going in person. You guys, City Council, this is looking great from online. But anyway, my name is Media. I'm a long time resident here in Zellentha, based in I know, and a member of the community to be their coalition. April housing advocacy group based here in the city of San Juan Capucho, in the neighborhood of the Capucho, is. We as residents there all work to ensure that the residents, especially working families, can remain in this community and continue to be part of its success. San Juan Capista Journal has always been a place where families grow roots, where workers support local businesses, and where many generations build their futures. But today, many long-time residents are being priced out due to the rising cost of housing. And or city in my opinion is not being not to meet this growing crisis. The 2024 housing element and what province report shows that we're not building enough affordable housing to meet the needs of our community. Of 37 new housing units permitted in 2024, 17 were served above moderate income households, only 10 were served moderate income families and 5 each for low income and variable income residents. Meanwhile, the city needs to build 270 very low income, 173 low income, and 183 moderate income units by 2029. And my best friend, I feel like we're falling behind. Some say, well, if you can't afford to live here, leave, very sweet old gentleman at church, told me this. But let's think about who that really is. We're telling the teacher to educate our children, the nurses who care for our sick and the restaurant and grocery workers who serve this community. We're asking them to be. Are we willing to let our small businesses struggle because employees can't afford to this year when it worked. We prepared for more traffic in the city, and workers are enforced in a longer commute each day. This is just about housing, it's about the economic and social stability of the city. When long time residents and essential workers are pushed out, we lose the people who make the city strong. I urge the city council to take immediate action by first requiring affordability commitments in the new development instead of allowing the new police that do not produce housing, to strengthen the inclusionary housing ordinance, to increase the required percentage of affordable homes. And last, prioritize surplus city-owned land for affordable housing development. Our city, the future depends on making sure that the list. Yeah, the people who contribute to this community have the opportunity to stay, work and thrive. I ask you to invest in how do you call and see that protector work? Thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you, Maria. Move for staff recommendation. Second. Okay, we have motion and a second all in favor. That matter passes unanimously. to administrative items. Madam Clerk, could you? Oh, yeah, these two that were pulled. Not pulled, pushed. So just for clarification, the item. Item E16 and 17. Yeah, these two that were pulled not pulled pushed oh so just just for clarification The item item e16 and 17 weren't pulled for discussion they were pulled from consideration this evening So they may be considered at future meetings, but they won't be considered this evening. Oh, I'm sorry Could I just say one comment about What we just did as far as what we just approved and thank some people in the audience? Sure. Or do you want to go for it? It's part of the consent calendar tonight. We also discussed or we also if you see it, we have new members and new appointments to all of our commissions. And I just want to thank we did a a lot of interviewing this last couple of weeks. And I just want to thank all the people who spent the time to do these interviews with us. And I can just tell you that the level, the quality of the people that we had in our interviews were fantastic. We couldn't choose all of them, and unfortunately, but please keep applying. And this is, we can fit you in. We will certainly try. But I want to just thank all of you and all of the people who came out and did that. Mayor, thank you. Mayor, could I add to that? You can add. So I see some future commissioners in the room right now. So like if you did Esther and Dickinson, Help help out our Mayor Pro Tem felt this form so we know you're here and we'll mention that you're here. Thank you and congratulations. Yep. That's the worst part about serving on the City Council is recognizing commissioners. When you have to use these to read here and then you're up here and you're trying and then you're appearing to try and recognize So thank you for helping us out with that Madam clerk, could you please read item f1a? Yes item f1a is awarded contract for construction of the are way away beautification project and easement agreement Mayor, I have to to recuse myself from agenda item F1A due to the proximity of our way away to my residents as well as the fact that my son, Harrison Taylor, who were in property from me is employed by the owner of the adjacent property with whom the city would enter into easement agreements as part of the project. Thank you. Thanks. May we please have a staff report on this item. I'll see you in a few minutes. Good evening. Mayor Bourne, Council members, Nardi Con, Engineering and Environmental Services Director for the City of San Juan, Capastrano. I'm here today to talk to you about the construction contract for the Arguelia Way beautification project. The Arguelia Way beautification project is located at the intersection of Camino, Capastrano and Old Mission Road as you can see on the image. Our Argoelia Way itself is a walkway adjacent to the trading post, which you can also see in the location map. The components of this project are very unique. We're excited to see the widening of sidewalks on the west side of Camino Capastastrano, near Arguelio Way. There is quite a pinch on the sidewalk with that creates some difficulties for accessibility and creates a safety concern. We are also improving curb ramps to be ADA compatible so that we provide better accessibility. We are providing new landscaping and irrigation. We also have some drainage improvements on the streets. And we are proposing pavers for Camino Capastrano, both the sidewalks and Urquillo Way itself. There's also new bistro lighting that complements the lighting that we recently installed on Virgo Street. and we also have some bike racks for active transportation. Sorry about that. Okay. Here are some images of the current conditions for our glial images of the current conditions for argwellio way. This right here shows the walkway that we currently have. As you can see, it's narrow. It has some inconsistent building materials and does not provide a very inviting features at this point. And this is an image here of the trading post, which is a very focal point of the community and the downtown area. In front towards the right of this image, you can see the traffic signal. With that post there, it is very narrow. On busy days, we do see pedestrians encroaching on the street itself, which creates some hazardous conditions. We will be remediating that through this project and through widening that sidewalk. Current downtown aesthetic, we've been doing a lot of public projects as well as some private projects that have enhanced the look and feel of our downtown area. On the lower right you can see our Verdugo area where we installed like I indicated before the beast or lighting, we have the planters and those nice wide sidewalks with pavers. We also have our gateway project on the upper left, which also provided the pavers on the sidewalk and quite a bit of landscaping. The two other images here are of our River Street marketplace and the in and emission, which have also enhanced the aesthetic of our downtown area. Specifically on the Capastrano trading post, I want to talk about this one because we have had some concern from the owner of this building. This is the view that we would have under the proposed project which includes landscaping in front of the building. We also have the curb ramps with some braiding for the ADA accessibility on both sides of the building. And you can see what the proposed improvements along our well would look like with the a be bistro lighting and the pavers. We would also be providing more consistent view for the landscaping planters within Argoelia Way. For the trading post in particular, this is a view of the side delivery gate for the business at that location. With the project, our goal was to keep the Arguelio Way widening as much as possible to provide for that enhanced pedestrian experience. We understood from the property owner that he had some concerns with the work we were doing so we started meeting with him back in May of 2023 to develop an agreement for the modifications to the trading post that would again provide that widening along our Guelio and we had offered to move this side entrance to the back of the building in order to, again, enhance Arguelio and that was going to be at the city's cost. After several back and forth discussions with the property owner in December of 24, we hadn't met with the owner, Mr. Ortega, and we had offered to consider the removal of the landscaping if Mr. Ortega would work with us on the relocation of the side gate. After much discussion with him in January of 25, we did ask the property owner for some resolution by the 23rd of January. As we didn't receive that, we proceeded with the project as originally proposed, which basically keeps the site gate where it currently is. It provides a landing area and then a ramp onto this entrance here, but leaves the building untouched. Here's some images of the trading post. Again, the left is the image I had shown earlier with the landscaping in front of the trading post and on the right you can see the elimination of the landscaping with the pavers which is something that the property owner has asked us to consider. From the city staff we do recommend the proposed project as it is consistent with other projects in the area. In addressing some of the concerns brought up by Mr. Rega. We have also developed some additional renderings that depict what that area could look like with some modifications. This one here in particular takes the landscaping in front of the trading post. It makes it very low-lying, almost like a grass, and then a keeps vegetation on both sides, just adjacent to the ramps. And this one here has the vegetation removed, which is one of the requests that we had received from the property owner, keeps some vegetation on both sides of the ramps. So it's kind of a mixture of some landscaping and some of it being removed. One item that we did want to bring to Council's attention is that if we were, excuse me, going to explore the idea of using pavers only in the front, you would end up with a condition like the one in the image above. So the Capastranger trading post would be on the left side. And then we have the sidewalk. It's about 13 feet. And the proposed pavers would actually end up being elevated above the ground for about a foot and a half. So this could create a slight trip hazard if it wasn't vegetated. Of course, with the landscaping, we feel that there would be enough of a delineation that we wouldn't have this situation present. But given the grades that we have out there with the street, with the proposed curb and gutter, we would have that raise, which again without vegetation could create some issues. In addition to the project contract we are also requesting City Council to consider an easement agreement. We have been working with a adjacent property owner, a capestrano plaza and San Juan capestrano mission ventures and we have an agreement that would allow for a couple things to happen. One of those is a temporary construction easement that would facilitate a contractor access during construction. And then we also have some permanent easements for installation of light fixtures. This is the location of the temporary access areas. We don't know that we would use all of them, but it does give us the flexibility to work with the contractor. All of the areas highlighted in green in this image are areas that we would have the ability to utilize on a temporary basis for construction staging. And this one here is a depiction of our permanent easements. Anything in the blue would be needed for permanent fixtures of the project. The larger rectangle on the upper left side would be the area where we would locate the bike racks. And the other smaller areas shown are for the lighting fixtures. Our bid results are summarized in this table here. Our low bidder is Oppenheimer National. We have reached out, checked references, and we feel they are capable of executing the project. I have a couple of series of numbers here for you. One is the base bid amount, which is the amount that was submitted in the bid. And the second one, second column is the base bid minus a signal work. As we reviewed the project, we had included in the bid request signal poll replacement. We concluded that it was not necessary work that was required as part of the project, so we have eliminated that from the scope. And that allows us to reduce the bids as you can see here. With that reduction, we still have Oppenheimer National as the low bidder for the project and we are still recommending that the contract be awarded for that lesser amount of $896,400 and $70. As far as the project budget and we are requesting from council this evening is we are asking for the contract with Oppenheimer which would be the 896,400. We are also requesting contingency amount for any unknown field conditions that we may encounter once we start executing the project. We will also need some contract administration and support services. Some of these include our staffing, project management, materials testing inspection, contract inspection services, and archeological and Native American monitoring services. That would bring our total construction costs to $1,146,400 and $70. Our current available project budget, as of right now with the work that we've done for the design, is $559,000. And we are recommending an appropriation that I'm going to turn over to to Ben to discuss a little bit more. Thank you, Ms. Conn and Mayor and Councillor, I want to spend a little time talking about these numbers because when bids come in for a project this far over our budget, it's something that is very concerning. We take it seriously and we do a thorough analysis, really trying to figure out, okay, what are the reasons that resulted in the bids being so much higher than our budget and then also so much higher than even the engineers' estimate, which is more recent. We'll talk about the distinction between those two numbers. Secondly, to determine what, if anything, we could have done differently throughout the life cycle of this project to better mitigate this impact or at least plan for the increased cost. And then third, to try to identify options for additional funding, should you choose to move forward with the project? So let's start with the first one. Why did this happen? Our budget of $560,000 is pretty stale at this point. It was originally budgeted a few years ago, then you augmented funding two years ago. And I think this speaks to a larger and concerning trend right now that we and many cities are seeing with their major capital projects and that the cost of labor and materials are escalating dramatically. We contacted a couple of the major vendors that we work with regularly, including RJ Noble who just did the local streets project. That was a $15 million project. And they are giving us advanced notice that they're seeing this trend throughout all of the cities they work with for you know the various quantities and the various materials but more importantly the labor so For example if this project ultimately is a 1.2 million dollar project That's basically equivalent to the cost of the Virgigo Street project which is much greater in scope that occurred in 2021. Just a few years ago you're talking about $1.2 million to deliver that and then $1.2 million to deliver what is effectively an alleyway beautification project. So that's the primary reason for the overage. What we could have done differently, I think there's a few things here. This slide references a $560,000 city budget, so what we have available. But recently, when the engineer, the design, professional completed the design, design, their estimate was $825,000. For Apple's and Apple's, that's for the low bid for the project that they estimated came out to a little over a million. The engineers estimate was $200,000, or 25%. So I think going forward, we need to be very cognizant about the contingencies that we're building into our major capital projects and we are mindful of that as we're now developing the proposed budget for fiscal year 2526. Typically when a project is budgeted we would then start design the council words of design contract, then we would come to the council for design approval and at that point we would share the engineers' estimate and talk about whether supplemental funding is needed. The council when you approved the budget and told us to move forward with this project, you looked at a concept design since it's a relatively straightforward project. You looked at the concept and the renderings and you just said move forward. We don't need to see the final design and approve that and authorize bidding, which would make sense for a project of this scope. You know, in hindsight, this would be one where we could have come back to the council. We talked about that when we saw the engineers estimate, but we also were moving under time constraints to deliver this project by summer between a relatively small window of post-swallows day, pre-July 4th was a goal. And the other constraint is we have a neighboring property owner at Heritage Barbecue who's doing a major renovation and we wanted to time the project to coincide with that construction and under if you move forward under the proposed schedule it will. So again I think the lesson learned for staff is that as we build budgets for major projects we need to factor in the at least currently major escalation trend in commodities and labor pricing. As far as supplemental funding available if you choose to move forward which staff is recommending we tried to identify sources that are not general fund and we were able to do that. So the current budget is funded by two primary sources. It's the facilities operation fund effectively, Americans with this billy access funding. This is, this project offers several ADA enhancements both on our way away itself and then on Camino Capastrano in front of the trading post and that sidewalk, it provides curb compliant or ADA compliant ramps on Camino Capastrano. So we would recommend that you take another $290,000 from that source, the funds are available, this is really, I would say, a targeted use of the purpose of those funds. And then secondarily from the public benefit contribution fund, that is a fund that we created and it's basically consists of developer, public benefit contributions for example when the city negotiates a development agreement and a developer would provide a public benefit payment. We would put in this fund. We also fund that with land sales. So most recently it would be the sale of the Mission Trails property of the Downtown Playhouse site. That would go into the city share of that would go into that fund and be available for the council's discretionary use. So between those two the funding is available without any impacts to the general fund. We are recommending that you move forward with that both to complete the project before summer then also to align with the construction schedule for the Heritage Barbecue project. With that I am going to turn it over to Nardi to finish the discussion and the presentation relative to schedule, but both Ms. Conn and I are available to answer questions. Thank you for that. So on the topic of the construction schedule, if the council would support our actions today, we would anticipate starting construction in April of 2025. And our goal is to finish the project before the busy summer season. So our target for construction completion is July 2025 and we will do everything that we can to work with our contractor to see that date, shortened and as much as feasible. Construction windows would be for nighttime construction on Camino, Capastrano. We would only be working from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. again to avoid disruptions to the tourist area. And Sunday through Thursday, there would be no work on Friday or Saturday night as again those are two busy evenings in the week. For our willow way we would be doing daytime work and we feel that that's feasible because there's always some alternative access in the area if our willow way is not available to the public. We will also need to utilize six parking spaces in the multi-modal lot for our construction staging. We are recommending several actions from the Council this evening. The first one is the award of the construction contract. The second one is the execution of the easement agreement for the rights necessary for the project. The third is the preparation of funds and finally for the sequa finding necessary to complete these actions. That concludes my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Any questions from members of the House? Yeah, all right. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Questions regarding the funding? I'll be honest with you, and you see something like this and the funding is pretty much double from where we budgeted and pardon me says this is kind of on pretty much a kind of a nice to have almost except for then you're fooled into the ADA part, right? And that's where it gets tricky is because it has the ADA compliance. And so my question is, one of the prime beneficiaries of the ADA is Heritage Barbecue as I understand it is we're kind of fulfilling their ADA requirements. Now I understand there's a more general ADA benefit as well. But Heritage Barbecue isn't funding a dime for these improvements, and yet we're funding their ADA, you know, in other words, we're funding their ADA compliance so that they can extend backwards without having to do their ramp. And so why aren't they paying a dime into the $300,000 or if we ask them? That's a good question, Councillor Hummer. This actually does not serve any ADA connection for heritage barbecue. Not saying that customers of heritage barbecue wouldn't use our way away, they would, as would patrons of other downtown businesses in the mission, but our building official has determined that that path of travel to the multimodal lot is not required for Heritage Barbecue because of the availability of ADA parking on Camino Capastrano, at that grade and a direct path of travel to the site, one is not needed from the Multimolar parking lot. Is that a change from what a previous ruling? Because I thought earlier there was a thought that this was serving an ADA requirement for heritage. Is that a different evolution? It is. It is. We've worked closely with our building official to analyze that and then also with heritage barbecue to fully understand their accessible path of travel. Okay. thank you. Any other questions for staff? Sorry, Jim? Nardi, you mentioned possible trip hazard if we went with only paving. Could you expand on how expanding paving would create a trip hazard as opposed to ground cover that actually might create the same situation. Certainly Council Member Ferries. So I'll refer back to this image here where you could see the proposed pavers and you are correctly would still have that same height differential. And I know it's a little difficult to read those numbers, but between the sidewalk and the top of where those pavers would be, it's about foot and a half. What would happen if you had vegetation is that vegetation would help delineate that there is a climb, so to speak, or that there's a height differential. It kind of makes it look more like a planter when you have vegetation versus if you have pavers someone could just go straight into that area, kind of walk into it, you could have a pedestrian looking out their cell phone or talking to a friend or something and just kind of run into that area. Of course, you could have somebody distracted kind of run into a planner but it would be a lot more visible right because there would be some height with the cover. So that would be the difference is that on top of this you would have some vegetation that would have some height that would help delineate that area better. So we built this project with only pavers. We would be building a dangerous sidewalk potentially. I wouldn't say that. I mean it's an important question. We wanted to call it out. I don't think we feel strongly about the treatment that actually goes in the planter. But if the council elects not to add landscaping as recommended and is shown in the original and approved concept design, we would work to find some type of visual marker to try to alert pedestrian of the changing grade. Could you think just off the top of your head what that might be? We could even have some either reflective strips some signage if the council was interested in some very low level Landscaping and we showed some native grasses just something to give just a visual offset if if pavers on the planter are Identical to the pavers in the sidewalk area. That's what we'd want to avoid. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I've got two questions. To Council Member Ferrius' question, the vegetation that's shown on slide 10, you can go to that guy real quick. Okay, so it looks to me like that's kind of just like grass or some type of a low level vegetation that would have as far as it would give you that delineation as well as it would provide unobstructed views of the front of the training post. So my question is if that were the selection that council should work with or decide to go with, what would the height limitation of that vegetation be? Would it be brass? Would it be perhaps a low lying head just like as low as cinches, just as 12 inches, 14 inches? Where do you propose here? We could select from a variety of different plants that would have different heights, but we could do something like a foot. We think right now with the pallet that's in the plans, we'd be at about a couple feet, two to three feet, but we, this wouldn't here was mostly meant to show that there could be something that was lower. Again, in response to the homeowners requests. We could look at something. Well, the challenge of this representation is the same challenge the initial representation made. I believe the planter area is probably the same width as depends on how high of vegetation. So, if you were to look at the previous slide that the other vegetation looks I like it could be 24, 36 inches, which is from one perspective, that's a scary thing. It blocks the front of your store. So what I'm hearing from you is that the representation on slide 10 then is also somewhat deceiving in the sense that it shows, you know, a stir for grass. So you're saying that it's that if the council were to choose that illustration 10, then it would be somewhat under, let's say, we say under 12 inches. We could install whatever the council's preference. If the council wanted to just like, like, need a grass, that would be fine as well. I have a question for you, City Manager, Mr. Siegel. It always, so we have a $270,000 fund at ADA that was available to us. I would assume during the last budget process it may not have been $2007,000 but it would have been a significant amount of money. So when we're considering budget, you know, when the council is deciding on what projects that we will go forward with, why did we not consider using that $2007,000 at that time therefore reducing the impact the General Fund for this project. The budget does use this funding source. So the existing budget of $559,000 is actually comprised of the Facilities Operation Fund and the Public Benefit and Contribution Fund. So that would have reflected, let's say, roughly a $200,000 deduction from the general fund. We were originally going to use this ADA funding all along. Or is that an accurate statement? This project, the existing budget does not include general fund. Okay, so this entire available project budget was going to come from both this ADA fund as well as the public benefit fund. Yeah, correct. So in other words, this project, original and our proposed supplemental funding, has no general fund impact. Okay. And if there's one other question, if we were to have moved a little more quickly on this project, It was something that we went through a lot of iterations. It took a period of a couple of years to do it. It would have had a certainly have a positive benefit to give it a good, and then built it two years ago and extended it today. Do you have any idea is it the percentage? How much more did this project cost us because we do it two years later as the question? 10% 15% what would you think? I don't know if I could speak with any confidence on an upper right. The cost of escalated from a year and certainly two years ago. and the council added funding in the 2324 budget, we definitely needed some time to work with the adjacent property owner, I would say South of Arquay away, on the easements that Miss Con noted in a presentation both permanent and temporary easements. So there's certainly coordination that was required. We also engaged in discussions with the owner of the training post about potential modifications to the building. Ultimately those didn't bear fruit. We think the project is fine without that partnership and we can do the project without any impact of the building. I think that's probably the most efficient way to do it and minimize the city's ongoing liability if we were to modify that building. But that process took significant amount of time. Thank you, sir. Okay, I'd like to open the public hearing. If anyone from the public has any comments about this project, now will be the time to speak to those. Madam Clerk, do we have members of the public who have asked to speak? Yes, I have Bill Ortega, followed by David Swardland. Thanks. Afternoon, gentlemen. Before I start, I have a question. I can read this really fast and get it done maybe in three minutes or I can talk normal and take about four minutes. What do you prefer? Tonight you will decide whether or not to approve the funding for the at thisioway project. It looks at this point that they have decided, the staff has decided to recommend landscaping. I'm asking you to change that. There are some things here tonight I didn't know about until just now, but I would prefer to retain the iconic view of the trading post on the right-hand side, because that is an iconic view. And that's my final, that's the only justification I have. It's an iconic view. Much of this is my own fault, and I take responsibility for not understanding the time frame. The city came to me with this over year and a half ago, and they wanted to put the entrance in the back of my building and I would told that they would pay for it and I agreed and then I went back and disagreed because I didn't want my building played with. It's old and I did not know there was a connection at that time between the landscaping and the door. Okay. I now understand that there was. When I found that out, I contacted the city and on December 15th, we agreed, Ben Siegel, Mayor Freys and the city staff and I were there. And we went back to the agreement that I would let the city do what they wanted with the building, as long as they could take out the landscaping. I was under the impression that January 31st was the deadline. I have an email to that effect. I don't know where January 24th came from. There was a suggestion that I get back to them by the 24th, but it didn't look like it was a deadline. So anyway, I apologize for not being clear on that. After that, I contacted the City Councilman and you all suggested that I get in touch with the staff and I did. And again, we came to a meeting, Marty and Paul came to my store and on the 7th of February and I thought we had a deal worked out that we were going back to that old agreement and Paul was so excited he agreed to bring the agreement to me that day to sign so that we could get it all done and the next day I was informed that the city was taking it out, taking that out the door out of consideration for the project and that the land capes, that they would suggest landscaping. After I understood that there was a connection, I worked with city staff, I was a general general about the time one and when I realized the two were connected, I tried to get it back by January 31st, which I thought was a deadline. I have since offered a proposal that would allow for the full use of the full width of our way away at no cost to the city. As it is now, you're gonna have to put a wall around where that gate is. And I think in the end, it probably saved the money. The pavers, obviously, is what I've been hoping for. It would save the city, the ongoing expense of watering the grass or the flowers or whatever is there. I may not have convinced you about the aesthetic value, but you're, I cannot stress this enough. You are changing an iconic view that is associated with this city. One of the councilmen told me that the first thing here members of that capestron I was coming in to town and seeing the old trading post with his family when he was a teenager. This also will likely hurt my business. I don't know that for sure, but that's my professional opinion. Anyway, I would ask you to please show consideration for a long-term resident, a taxpayer, and a downtown merchant and help us improve the city without changing its character. And I think taking away that iconic view sort of changes its character. Thank you. I do like, I'm surprised at some of this. I wish I would have been in contact with city staff more often and for that I apologize, but I also thank all of you for your graciousness and I especially want to mention Nardi and Paul. They were totally professional. Thank you. Thank you. I'll get that later. David Sordland, resident of Samon, Capastrano, former council member 12 years. I feel for you up there. You have some hard decisions that you're making and gonna make, and I know you're trying to do a good job. I think staff has done a relatively good job on this. What I would say is I would agree mostly with what Bill has said. I think he's worried a lot about what effect it's going to have on pedestrian traffic when the final decision is made. And the higher the planters, the higher the plants in front of his trading post, the more of a visual barrier that is and the more that the concept of the pedestrian is that they're either going to go to the right where they're going to go to the left. And like he says he doesn't know how it's going to affect his business. But for example, when I had mission photography, we had a small antique dealer that moved right around the corner on Ortega. He lost half his business. So we have to be very careful about the effect of what this project does to build business. That's a big point. The other point that I want to talk about would be the ADA requirements. We talked about our Guarrel way. Is that part of the ADA that you're going to make that ADA compliant because it doesn't meet the slope. The slope is I think two inches for every 25% and our gravel way is much deeper in many places. And the only other comment I would make is if you have any interest or worry about risk assessment, you have the joint powers, California joint powers insurance authority, which I was on the executive board for 10 years. And they'd be glad to come down and take a look at this. So hopefully you'll build a lot of consideration in this. Thank you. Thank you, David. Madam Clerk, do we have any more speakers from the Havoc? Mayor. Okay. Back to Council then. Gentlemen, do you have any comments that you'd like to make or writing this item? Sergio. I disagree with Bill or are you? Bill, we've already had these meetings. I really disagree with you on what your fear is, but I'm not the one that's going to be hurt by it. You feel very strongly about that, and that's something that I want to convey to my colleagues is, I don't know if you've met with Bill on this issue, but he feels very strongly on it. And the other thing I would say is, I mean, look at the landscaping improvements we've done, or take a highway is one of those, where it's kind of like, you look at the landscaping, broken lights, I've looked at that for over a year. It's a relatively new project. So I'm not trying to knock her vendors, but I don't feel they are gonna do that specific of a job of making this look immaculate all the time. It's just not going to happen. We're a large, you know, well we're a city to have a vendor painstakingly take care of every aspect of your landscaping. It's just not going to happen. And so with that reason, the part I really like about this project is that you're going to get a wider sidewalk. And if it makes Bill feel better about it at the end of the day, he is, I don't want to say 40 years, but you've been in town, I think, as long as you've been a business owner in town and I think that's more than 30 years I know for sure. And so, you know, not that we should consider, you know, one person more than the other just because they've been around a long time, but I think, you know, to me that matters. And so I kind of like the visual on the right here, or our right that I'm looking at. I think it's to make, you know, the business owner feel better. That's my opinion on this project. The overages, I don't know if tariffs's going to help those numbers. To the comments that my colleague made, actually, Mayor Pro Temmade, I think, and Steph, I don't remember his close session or not, but I think we once considered doing this along with the rest of Redugo Street at the time, which was a lot of money of money, unfortunately we didn't go with that option and I know I was in favor of it, but that probably makes you guys feel a lot better. Yeah, I believe the sidewalk set back now and I'm sure staff can tell me this to the exact inch, is somewhere between 18 and 24 inches, the existing setback. So between Heritage Barbecue and the front entrance of Ortega's, it may be 26 inches, I have no idea, but it's not a whole lot. It's very difficult. I often, when I'm on that corner, I watch families navigating baby carriages going past that point and having other traffic pedestrians have to wait for them. That, the widening that will be done there will significantly enhance the pedestrian access to Ortega's. And I believe strongly that that enhanced access is going to have a very positive effect on Mr. Taegas business. I am very sensitive to Mr. Taegas concern regarding a visual impact as you're making the turn off of old mission road going on to Camino Capi, the writer left. And it's unfortunate I made a statement earlier regarding the PDFs and the sort of the ideas of what might be the presentation of what might be in the future. And I see it as a kind of a two-aid sort. One representation is really inaccurate, I believe it's really too tall or I certainly wouldn't improve at that. I believe strongly that because of the enhanced public benefit of people and I think Ms. Conn makes an excellent point. We don't walk around anymore looking at where we're going. We walk around looking at our cell phones. We walk around doing other things. The, there is an additional issue there as far as the vast quantity of people that traverse that intersection. I feel strongly that the illiteration that slide 10 with a grass delineation that has a very, very low-lying landscape element would be appropriate, but I would like to see it certainly less than 12 inches and there's plenty of landscape Options that are available that would provide that I think it would be absolutely a enhancement to the public and I think it's it's a it's a It's a sort of a way that we can meet a very important business owner a a very established icon in our community and try to bring that safety in but not have plants that are 24, 36, 48 inches up into his view. And I think Councilmember Ferris makes a good point that we have a landscape contractor that maintains vast areas of our community and there may be those times when those plants grow a little bit taller than they should. So I'd like to see them somewhere between 6 and 12 inches and they get to 14 to 16 inches before Mr. Ortega calls up and says, hey, the dog on things are way too high guys. This is what you agree to. So that's my perspective on that. Thank you. I just from a static standpoint, I really don't like the full Montier, whatever it is, with the landscaping. There's nothing against the landscaping by itself in a vacuum. It. In front of that building it just doesn't fit quite honestly. That's an iconic building that quite honestly if I were probably some sort of architect critic I would say, good God, what the heck were you thinking? But when I think of San Juan Capastrano, some of my earliest memories of that building, and God I love it, you know, it's just, I kind of felt like they built that building, and then they built the mission across the street from it. You know, in my mind, it's just, you know, it's so well associated with San Juan Capastrano. And so why hide it with these beautiful plants that don't match it in any way, shape, or form? It's just, it's just so San Juan Capastrano, you know, it's us. I really agree with my colleague for once, Councilmember Campbell. I really kind of like this idea with the very low grass or natural grass. that's probably from a safety standpoint, it makes sense. From a visual standpoint, it makes sense. It enhances rather than, if you could turn, move the slide, I think it just enhances the visual. It enhances the view of the trading post rather than detracts it, frames it with the plants on either side. And it just, yeah, it really, yeah, it frames it instead of pides it and and clutters it. So yeah, that would be my choice as well. Sure. One thing that banks' consideration is it really concerns me when we look at a budget of, and for a lot of good reasons, you know, the span of time, the span of getting, you know, easements, that sort of thing, the construction cost, the spiraling out of control right now, but it's a big concern for me when we're looking at a number 12 months ago at $560,000 and we're coming in right now to million 146. That is a big, big problem. And I would, I know I would, I feel strongly that had this improvement been presented to us at that time at a million, too. I probably would have been not in favor of approving this improvement. Although it's going to make a big difference in our community, a million twos of big ol' price to pay. I think we're at a point now where I believe that we should move forward with it, but I asked staff to be incredibly careful and conscious of of this process and keep us informed as we go along. Because I feel strongly even six or eight, seven months ago, six months ago, had our arms around this number, we may or may not have moved forward with this project. So it's a big concern for me and I just wanted to bring that up. Thank you. Thanks, Tom. OK, so can you go to slide number nine, please? So Council Member Farias has a preference for the image on the right. I have a preference for the image on the left. And the other two Council members have a preference if you go to slide, what is it, 10? With the most strip? Something more like that. So I guess I want to like high level kind of frame how I'm thinking about this because we're going to call for a vote and it will be interesting to see kind of what that vote looks like because I am a little bit hesitant to have us up here making landscape design decisions when we are not qualified to do that. So can we just like step back for just a second? These are artist renderings of plantings. This is not based off of if you could go back to page seven, I guess it is, that shows the larger picture of what, correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't actually specified that we're going to have Mexican sage in there, or some sort of a gavi plan, or is this just representative? Or? So that's a great question. And when this first came to the council, staff indicated that we would match the design to be consistent with Ferdugo, both in terms of the hardscape and the landscape and the council was supportive of that. So that's what was put into the specs. Okay, so just to be clear, a landscaper could come and say, okay, so I understand you guys want plantings, but you don't want to be as tall as these two big tall. You know, I don't know what those are. they look like Alavera plants or whatever. Okay, and all of a sudden this whole thing is half of the height that it's being depicted at. This is just visually representative, and I'm afraid we're getting a little bit hung up on plants because I haven't since the 1980s seen someone come and suggest putting a most strip as a landscape buffer between a commercial building and a street and yet that's what we're proposing talking a little bit about that maybe we're going to consider doing that where I think that was also designed just to be representative of what it could look like it was green but lower so I think we're kind of looking at two extremes here that are designed intentionally to create two different views and we're trying to I don't I'm just not comfortable up here the City Council specing which sort of plants go in this planter. We can all stand out there when they're picking plants off off of the back of the truck and decide I guess if that's what we feel like we want to do but I kind of stay high level for just a second when it not planted, your eyes are drawn to the railings. When it is planted, it softens the landscape. If you think about what we've done over the last several years in downtown, all over the place, we've done exactly this. And we didn't get concerned that people weren't going to go to Del Taco if we put plants in front of Del Taco. And when in a burger came to town, we didn't say, We'll make sure there's no plants or no one will know that in our burgers there. Right, so I think that there's like I've discussed this with members of the Planning Commission who are professional architects, they do this filling. The idea that someone's going to not walk into the trading post because there's flowers planted in the plan in front, I just is not a credible, I just don't think that there's any data to support that, it's not best practice in the industry when we go on this what I do for a living. And I have Sergio involved in landscape design. When we develop retail stuff, we put vegetation in front of it. We make sure that there's plenty of signage and people can see the stores. I think that, you know, we haven't talked enough and you started to a little bit John but if you go to that cross section again in terms of the commercial benefit of what the city is doing at its own expense for the owner of the trading post. If you look at this cross section you can actually see because you were mentioned like 26 inches. It's not 26 inches. We're almost doubling multiple feet. Can you go to that cross section really quite? It's more than 10 feet, right? So it's 13 feet and you can see where the existing curb and gutter is today. It's marked. So you're almost doubling the width of the space that people have to stand in front of the store. Look into the windows, still allow people to pass by. Now, as a dad of teenage boys, go back to slide nine, I guess. Okay. Now, I've got a bike. Think about that for a second. This is my passageway to River Street, to the Los Rios district. I wanna cut back up downtown. Now tell me the speed at which I'm approaching this on a bike if I'm a kid, if it's the thing on the right versus the thing on the left. And the bikes are just the example of all of the pedestrian flow. People flowing right into the street, right out of the street, as we're trying visually to put them in certain places. When you remove this planter, where am I supposed to go? Any where I want in the picture on the right, and in the picture on the left, it shows me very clearly where I'm supposed to go. I'm obviously not supposed to step through the planter. Mayor on both sides, it's actually elevated there in the front where the street is. I get that. It's going to be a great jump. That's the point I'm making. That's the exact point that I'm making. It's going to be a fantastic jump down into or way at speed. Could I make a compromise? Yeah, but let me kind of finish. I'm going to give it. So I just, I guess a little bit, I understand that we've got a business owner and he has some vested interest in what the front of his store looks like and he has rights and he gets to do all sorts of things to the front of his store. But as a city, these paths of travel are our responsibility and we don't seed those decisions to business owners around town. We don't say, you know, if someone came in to Del Taco and said, I'm doing something other than Del Taco. I'm the new owner here. Get all this landscape out in front of your property because I want people to have a clear look into my restaurant. We would say, no, that's not how it works. We have a vested interest in what the streetscape looks like. And that's our decision. We don't defer those decisions to business owners that sit behind our paths of travel. We have some ownership over that ourselves. So. That's our decision. We don't defer those decisions to business owners that sit behind our paths of travel. We have some ownership over that ourselves. So you kind of know where I sit on this. I think a little bit. I don't think we should be deciding which plants go in there. It's either planted or it's not. I think we have three votes here for planting. And I'd be happy to instruct staff as part of a motion to say, Bring this back a little bit more of a detailed planting palette here so we can talk about heights and what that looks like in a little bit more visually destructive more than a visual I don't even know what to call this You know this is high level we can get a little bit more granular if the three of us want to talk about which plants go there and Sergio with that feel free to You're the the landscape expert up here so go ahead and make your comment So I know Bill probably still hates this but if you go back to the Wilbos, I think I don't know where it went and became a most trip or native grasses, but I think the slide 10. Okay, so we'll say in front of the trading post in a motion, we would say that in front of the trading post you would have low-lying ground cover. We don't have to name the plant. And on the sides you have something that might be a shrub. We're not going to determine what plants, but we're just going to say low lying ground cover in front of the store. And on the sides where the shreds are depicted, we'll have shrubs. Yeah, and I wouldn't support that motion, just if we're back and forth because ground cover, you know, it's just a most strict with some color in it, right? Like the whole idea is that you're trying to create a visual something that people can see as they're walking and driving by and I don't know that that does it for me. So again, now what we're really saying is we really are now discussing literally what type of plants to put in this planter and I think we're way outside of what we probably should be doing up here as a city council. If you know like really are now discussing literally what type of plants to put in this planter. And I think we're way outside of what we probably should be doing up here as a city council. If you know, like, Bill, let's go out there and look at the plants together. But I'm not comfortable at all with having two paving surfaces, a foot and a half separate from each other. One on the street and one not. I don't think most of us are comfortable with that. And I don't think from these drawings, you might have the expertise, Sergio, and I want to give you credit for that because it's what you do for a living. I do it enough. I don't think most of us are comfortable with that. And I don't think from these drawings, you might have the expertise, sir, Joe, and I want to give you credit for that, because that's what you do for a living. I do it enough that I could probably take a swag at it. But I just don't know that we really as a council should be making those levels of decisions, Howard. Well, let's not make those levels of decisions, But what we could do is just say general height limit of the plants in front of the store. Say 12 or 18 inches, take a pic. Yeah. say general height limit of the plants in front of the store say 12 or 18 inches take a pick. Yeah that way you keep in that way you're leaving the latitude of the professionals. We're not going up to three feet, four feet, whatever. Which some of the plants depicted in that original drawing could be? Yeah and so I'm told that you keep it. Yeah, I don't care what number we all decide on, but let's keep it at a general level that's acceptable, keeps the visibility of the store. It doesn't have to be a grass strip. I don't think anybody was considering that. And yeah, Council Member Campbell's comments, certainly not? Is that a motion? Yeah, that would be my motion. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion passes three to one. So just to be clear, that was staff's recommendation with a modification to restrict the plantings in front to 12 to 18 inches at a maximum height. Whatever. Okay. Now we'll take a recess from the City Council meeting. Welcome back, Councilmember Taylor, but we will now welcome him back not as Councilmember Taylor, but as a member of the Successor Agency. No, you're just a member. I'll adjourn the meeting and turn it over to Chair of the Successor Agency. Thank you. I now call the Successor Agency regular meeting of March 18th, 2025 to order. The record should reflect the roll call to take in previous City Council meeting. Items on the consent calendar are considered routine and may be enacted by one vote. Does anyone wish to remove a consent calendar item for discussion or abstain from voting? Hearing none is there a motion to approve a consent calendar? So moved. Second. Okay, is there any discussion? Hearing none, the motion carries unanimous. Oh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. The motion carries unanimous. Secondarily. There are no board action items scheduled to be received. Do board members have any comments? Hearing none, the meeting is scheduled Tuesday, April 15th, 2025 at 5 p.m. for a public business section. In the City Council Chamber at the Community Center, Mayor, I turn the meeting over to you. Thank you. City Council meeting is now reconvened and will move to Council Action item H1. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of the item? Yes, item H1 is reconsideration of city contribution to the commuter real playhouse for tenant improvements to new facility. Thank you. Mayor. Mayor. I'm re-heasing from agenda item H1 as as I'm a board member of the community real playhouse. Thank you. Take my hat. Go on the closet. There you go. Council member McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. Councillor McKinnon. consider this vote we made last meeting. I left the, as I left and walked out of here, I kind of had, I was reluctant to have voted in the manner I did. I really think given the upcoming budget workshop we have that in all the requests that we have, we've sort of keep a wish list of things that we would like the city manager to find for us and find the funding for if we have it. And this is the very first councilmanic item that I've ever voted on in all the years I've been on council that we actually approved a dollar amount without even kind of looking into the budget. I mean, we could have approved $500,000 that night if we so felt that way. But my point is that I think I'd like to reconsider my vote. I would like to, it's not, has nothing to do with the play house's ability to perform. I think they're, I've read over their performance and their business model that they have upcoming. It sounds great. However, there's a lot of things that the taxpayers want us to do and I just think that maybe at this point I'd rather see us look at the budget coming up in May and apply this at that time to see if it's a high priority for this council. And I'll leave it to anybody else who wants to say anything. Do any council members have questions for council member Taylor? Because he's basically staff now. No questions. Madam Clerk, do you have any requests to speak for? We'll open the hold, look here. Yes. I have Paul Hunt, followed by Darrell Hill, and Leslie Eisner. Good evening, everybody. Hello, my name is Paul Hunt. I'm more well known as the son of Happy Hunt, the town patriarch here. And my parents, both my mom and dad, shared that title of matriarch and patriarch for so many years until my mom recently passed. I'm a proud member of the one annual band of Mission Indians, Aasha Manation. And I take great pride of the fact that my ancestors helped build the Mission San Juan Capistrano. In my early 20s, my wife and I started an irrigation landscape supply company in San Diego. We enjoyed great success over the years, and we were given numerous opportunities to move into places like Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel by the Sea, or even La Jolla. However, I made a decision to stay in San Juan Capistreno despite the challenges of a one and a half hour commute each way, both for my wife and myself, for 20 years. She was not happy. At the age of 40, I sold our business and retired. During this time, I was invited by several surrounding cities and 501C3 organizations, such as food banks, charities, YMCA's, churches, and schools to join the advisory board or board of directors. While I participated in a few of those to help out, I was waiting for the right opportunity to give back to my hometown of San Juan Capitrano. The opportunity came when I discovered that communal real playhouse while searching for acting lessons upon visiting, I realized that the playhouse needed more than just assistance of set building, but also needed help growing the company. I was honored when they invited me to join the Board of Directors a role I happily accepted. I am currently the Vice President of the Communal Real Playhouse, and during my time with the organization we had made significant strides. Strides in creating a strong foundation for success, with updated, established, strict by-laws to ensure accountability moving forward, and our mission now allows for a transferable system that we can align with the proven business model. I personally recruited entrepreneurs to come join our board and bring in diverse, educated perspectives. Many of these high net worth individuals generously give of their time, and they don't live in San Juan Capitrano. You might wonder why I'm sharing all of this. It's because of the concern for, you might wonder why I'm sharing all this. If there's any concern of communal real playhouses ability to thrive in its new location, I'm here to assure you there is no need to concern any longer. With the support of successful entrepreneurs and retired professionals on our board, we are stronger than ever and stand proudly as the leader in our industry. Today I'm asking you not only to follow the examples of surrounding towns that have cut the funding for the arts and music, but my father, my ch- Today I'm asking you not only to follow the examples of surrounding towns that have cut the funding for the arts and music, but my father, my children and every person generations to follow are asking you to continue the support for community rail playhouse by reaffirming your commitment through a one-time gift. Thank you for your time. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, fellow City Councilman. My name is Darrell Hill. I am the homeowner here in San Juan, Cabastrano, and I'm also the managing director of the communal reall playhouse. Thank you for being here today and for your unwavering support of the playhouse for 36 years. In our present location and it's because of this support, your belief, your generosity and your commitment that we're standing here today with a vision that is not only alive but growing stronger. Your recent decision to support the playhouse sent a message, a message of confidence in its future, in its purpose, and its role that it plays in enriching our community. That commitment has already sparked something incredible. More donors have stepped forward, more supporters have joined the cause, and more momentum has been built. A withdrawal of those funds could be seen as an absence of confidence on your part, which would jeopardize our ability to raise more money for our build-out. We are at a critical moment where necessary tenant improvements, like moving a support beam and upgrading a 200 amp electrical service, will ensure that the playhouse will serve as a home for creativity, culture and connection. Now these just aren't structural changes. They are investments in a space that brings people together. It fosters new talent and it will keep the arts alive and thriving in our community. The return on this investment is clear. The playhouse isn't just a building. It's a place where stories are told. Voices are heard and dreams take center stage. By maintaining your support, you are ensuring that future generations will have a space to learn, perform, and inspire. Your original funding decision was a signal to all that the arts, singing, dancing, writing, teaching, have a home here in San Juan, Capastrana. When we believe in something, we see it through. Believe me, the playhouse is worth it. Your sustained investment will echo down for another 36 years and more, through the performances, the artists and the audiences of tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, City Council staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I come before you tonight to try to answer a question for you about our success and sustainability. As President of the Playhouse, it's my job not only to get the playhouse up and running in its new location, but to ensure its long-term success and sustainability. To that end, our team has submitted an updated pro forma, outlining a clear and strategic path forward. A key component of this plan is leveraging our gifted endowment that we've received to generate income that will offset nearly 50% of our rent. This is essential because while ticket prices of $30 to $40 make live theater accessible, they simply cannot cover the full cost of operating a facility of the scale. A sustainable funding model requires strategic supplemental income and this approach allows us to achieve exactly that. We are also investing wisely in the play us as future by allocating our total savings account along with the generous contribution from the city towards essential tenant improvements. These enhancements estimated at $125 a square foot include crucial upgrades such as relocation expenses, signage, permit, vital technical improvements, lighting, sound and stage curtains, all of which will be fully covered by our savings. The city's contribution in particular will be used for two critical infrastructure upgrades. One is the removing of a support beam post, which is currently would be on the center of our stage. And this post obstructs performance space and must be replaced with a support beam and improvement estimated at approximately $20,000. We also need to increase electrical capacity. In additional 200 amps are required to power the theater's lighting and overall building needs, a necessary upgrade costing approximately $50,000. We deeply appreciate the city's role in making this possible and to honor this partnership. We will proudly install a plaque at the entrance of the playhouse that reads, powered and supported by the city of San Juan, Capastrano, because quite literally it will be. This plan is not just about sustaining the playhouse, it's about securing its future as a thriving cultural hub for a community. Your support is not just an investment in the arts, but in economic viability and the shared experiences that make this city unique. You're grateful for your partnership and looking forward to building a playhouse that will serve San Juan for many generations to come. On a personal note, we have fought tooth and nail to survive the loss of our building, the location of a new one, the saving, the funding, and determination to remain in San Juan as opposed to moving to another city. Please don't abandon us now. Thank you. Mary, if I may. Just real quick, Do we have any other comments? No. So is it okay if I'll close public hearing? Is that okay? And then we'll go to comments from the council starting with Councillor Mourn for this. I appreciate my colleague Council member Taylor for wanting to reconsider his vote. I have a great deal of respect for him and his reasoning for it makes a lot of sense. It was a very unusual vote and I just want to mention I want to mention that it was, I mean, his reasoning is sound. There's probably a lot of other reasons that you could have brought up of why we would want to bring this back to the council that I think others may mention. But I think it was important you know for me as a council member to Do something a little unusual in this circumstance and that's because of the situation Our playhouse was and I think that it was very symbolic for us to provide those funds and I think very important for them as We've seen in correspondence as it helped them with fundraising. It also showed that the city was behind them but you know with that being said I understand why we're here again and you know I admire you and respect you a great deal so those are my comments. Thank you thank you you. All right. I respect also respect my colleague, Council Member Taylor and understand where you're coming from. This is a unique situation that the playhouse is in. They've... Because of a state law that was passed many years ago, they're being moved, which I don't think anybody in this city would choose to have them moved out of the current location if we had the place to do so. Or not breaking the bank by doing this. I think we all understand that. While I understand your reasoning, the amount that I originally came up with was $75,000. I had an extra $1,000 because of my dad. And I think I went through that last time. I think sometimes when I saw this $75,000, I didn't want it to be such a token amount that didn't mean anything to them. I was trying to find a way that was affordable to the city, but also made a difference for the playhouse. I think that we've kind of straddled that line with this particular amount and and so while I appreciate where you're coming from and I totally understand the process was unusual and how we got here in this instance I'm going to have to devote no on your particular motion. Any comments? Yeah, I just wanted to say that as far as, you know, since 2010, I voted in the affirmative. Every single time it came up to support the community rail playhouse. I've always supported the community rail playhouse by attending plays not only, but also of voting to waive the rent for the building as long as it's been there. So the part of the equation that's missing for me is I didn't have any, normally we get a staff report, it'll tell us the funding, whether we have the funding. Now, I imagine we have the funding. But the way we went about it to me is not respective. The taxpayers that pay into this. And as far as supporting the arts, there's kids that go to San Juan Hills High School that live in my district that cannot attend after school sports or after school drama class or after school music, because their parents can't pick them up from school and there's no buses that run that time a night. And they've asked me, Unitos, Crayer, can you help us? Can you help us get a bus or some kind of transportation? You know, what would that cost us a year to transport and give, you know, an evening bus route so that kids can get from the Capastron of Villas home, you know, to San Juan Hills High School. So, you know, that would support the arts as well. So, and I'm not saying this, I'm just asking our colleagues to let's hear how the budget works out this year. We haven't even, we're getting ready to go into the budget cycle. Let's see where it stands. And if it's something that is still a high priority, I think we should, I think we owe the taxpayers the respect for their money that we look at everything goes where it goes to. And has no reflection on the, you know, I want the success of the community out playhouse. I love the playhouse. I'm glad it's found a home and I, you know, I would just ask my colleagues to reconsider, you know am wanting to reconsider my vote. So thank you, Mayor. So I think you have four and five, even though he's not here, because he's in the closet. Council members who want to see the communal real playhouse be very successful and who view it as an asset to our community, a significant asset to community. I think what we're talking about, and I'm grateful that she brought this back. I missed this discussion two weeks ago because ironically, I left the meeting early to go watch my daughter sing in a performance venue. She was singing up at Searsdrum and I had like a dad guilt cramp up here near the end of the meeting and I decided to rush out and see if I could catch her and I did. So I missed it, I'm grateful that you brought it back because I too have concerns not with the playhouse but with the process. And I'll share several of my concerns and maybe a proposed solution and see if people are comfortable with that if we can't get where you guys want to be in a process that we're proud of. When we're presenting and I think, and I don't want to put words in your mouth that, you know, as I watch it and discussed it since, I think what made everybody feel like a little bit, this isn't the normal way we do things, came out in some of the public comments that this was a, you know, it was a gift. Well, normally that's not how we think of public funds and our role up here. You know when we allocate public funds we always try to remember that they're coming from everybody in the community on an involuntary basis. Right so when we vote to give the city's money to somebody we're essentially requiring everybody in the city to make that contribution. And we do that making trade-offs. So that's why we have a budget season. So we can look and we say, is this a good thing? Is this a good thing? Is this a good thing? And the answer, most of the time, is, yeah, those are all good things. But just like when we teach our kids, kids like do you want a burger? Yes. Do you want a pizza? Yes. But we generally say do you want a burger or a pizza? And we let them choose because we're not getting everything for dinner every night and the city can't afford to do all the things that we would like to do and we definitely can't afford to do all the things that we would like to do in the future. So, you list a whole bunch of things. We can talk about the boys and girls club. We can talk about the fact that we don't have synthetic turf on Stonefield and we have to shut that down, you know, during the year so the kids can't play soccer. All of the things that are we're not a big city. I gave a little bit of a hard time to our Laguna Nagel neighbors earlier this evening because we face budget constraints that some of our neighboring cities don't. So typically when we talk about budget allocations, we do it in a trade off environment. What is everything we're looking for? And then when we look at what we want to do, we make decisions, we're gonna do this because we value this more than that. We're gonna allocate resources. And I think that's probably what I was the most uncomfortable with because it kind of broke a process. not typically how we do it. We don't how people just kind of come and say can we have some money sure how does this sound is that It's not typically how we do it. We don't have people just kind of come and say, can we have some money? Sure, how does this sound? Is that good? We typically just don't operate that way. Not that there's anything necessarily inherently inappropriate about it. It's just not the way we've operated as a council. And it's not my preference. Now, I should also add that I would have voted no two weeks ago. The, on the motion that was made probably for a couple of reasons, I think that the, do we support art in our community? We clearly do. Should, should public be forced to, and I, and I use that word directly, force to contribute to the arts. That's always been tricky at any level of government. Because what I value as art is different than what you value as art. And when I obligate somebody to contribute to something that then they view as controversial, not that I think that you guys could pick a, well you could pick a controversial play. You know, and half the city or more would think it's fantastic and then somebody says, oh that's great. I paid for that. Because the City Council chose to give my money to someone who did something that offended me. Funding arts always a little bit of a tricky thing. And then I stop and say, okay, well, even if we get on board with requiring taxpayers to fund arts that we as a City Council choose are valuable, is this city in this budget cycle in a position to make those gifts and that wasn't part of the dialogue and it should be. Every time we decide to cut a check that wasn't in the budget, we should be looking at it as it relates to the budget. Not just on a one-off does it make us feel good? Is it going to make our friends happy this evening we vote in this way. I'm also uncomfortable with a couple of other things about the process. My understanding and look in the performance, I'm glad that we got a performance, right? And you repeated this here and I want to repeat it for everybody else because I think it's important, is the theater company is viable, whether we contribute this or not, the theater company is viable. If their endowment remains in force, right? If the endowment is allowed to be retracted, then the theater company is not viable, even if we do give you guys the money that was voted on a couple of weeks ago. And I asked that question today and some meetings say, can this maybe take him back and the question and the answer was I don't know that's something I definitely want to know That's because if you have the funding then great if our funding Isn't going to get you there because that funding can be retracted that so I would probably want to make sure that that's Like a stand and the second is are the funds restricted which in in the vote that we took, I understand you guys have intentions for it to want to use the money, but typically, if the city's allocating money and something like this, we would have a specific allocation say it can be used for this, but it cannot be used for this. I'm gonna make a bad example. Well, nevermind, I'm not gonna. You can imagine just giving something to a nonprofit and saying, use this, we like you, is different than giving it to a nonprofit and saying, hey boys and girls club, this is specifically supposed to be for after school work material. So these guys have access to pens and pencils and things like that. We wouldn't just throw a check over the fence and say, use that because we think you guys do good work. And so those were a couple of things that I felt if we are going to give this money. There should be more discussion as to how it's used and probably having a little bit of a better understanding of how the finances work at the playhouse to make sure that if we're investing in this, that we're investing in something that we know can happen because those funds are sticky. Having said all of that, what I would recommend is we are six weeks away from having this workshop where we discuss what to do with all of the city's money in the next 12 months. It seems appropriate to me to put this back in the process that we use for other distribution of funds, which is, hey, this looks like something that we're excited about as a council. We love the playhouse. It sounds to me like a majority of the council members support this. Let's put it back in the process the way our process is typically work. Allocating trade-offs and speak to the public in an honest way about what's not getting paid for because we're paying for this instead. So that we're actually showing the public what our priorities are because it's going to come from something else that we could have spent the money on, and maybe it should. But we can have that in a proper setting. My motion would be to... the racks are showing the public what our priorities are because it's going to come from something else that we could have spent the money on and maybe it should. But we can have that in a proper setting. My motion would be to table this decision and move it to the budget process. If we were a year away from that or nine months, I'd say maybe that doesn't work. But guys, we're weeks away from doing this for the entire year's budget and that would be my motion. It's just move it to the budget. So the budget workshop. I would say that as far as doing things outside of the budget, the council's actually, I don't remember the figures. Actually spent hundreds of thousands of dollars that were imbudgeted on the bird house park just as a reminder. And we put several parks behind us, including Sarah Park and I'm forgetting the other name of the other parks. So it's not totally unprecedented that we didn't do budget everything we spent. So I just wanted to put that out there. I agree. I agree with that too. And I would second that motion and put this on the budget cycle on our list of items for funding priority. Okay, so we have motion and a second. Any other commentary? Councillor Mahart. No comments. I would make a comment. Is that going to get you guys a reconsideration? It's only saying if this goes forward so this is reconsidering. So I've heard a lot of this fair amount of discussion tonight. Recall the council took action at the last council meeting. This item before you right now is kind of a two-step process. First is the motion for the council to decide whether even once reconsider the prior decision. Assuming the council votes in favor of that by a majority of the four of you, it should be three, then you can reconsider it. If that motion for reconsideration does not pass then the prior decision stands. Okay. Okay, so let me restate my motion. Okay. My first motion is I move to reconsider the item. Second. All in favor. Aye. All opposed. No. Motion fails. We're done. We're done. Okay. We're good, though. All right. Thank you, my colleagues. Yeah, thanks. Good discussion. For the discussion, exactly. Do we have any other City Council reports? How about a City Manager report? Nothing further, thank you, Mayor. Then this meeting is adjourned until Tuesday, April 1st at 3pm for executive session and 5pm for the public business session. Thanks, guys, and thanks to all the playhouse folks for coming out tonight.