City Council - Regular Meeting

creates a family atmosphere. The first thing that you feel once you enter these doors is just people smiling at you. You know, you feel you just feel family. We want you to be here, you know, and we want you to take advantage of what the city is providing for you. Lunch programs, activities, you know, for your mental health, physical health. But I enjoy the most to see transformations. I've seen seniors come in with tears in their face and then a year from now you see them and they're line dancing. They're attending our parties. They are all dressed up, you know, with big smiles and and that's the most beautiful thing I can witness. I have grown a lot. I feel like I have more patience now. It makes me see the city I live in a different way. I love where I live and work. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hi, I'm Ashi Sergoza. I'm with the city of Corona. The city of Corona recently toured Latitude 36 Foods. They're a Corona food manufacturer that took the Live Work Corona pledge which shows

their commitment to hiring local. Here in Corona, we do have about 80% of our workforce that works and lives here in Corona. And so that's very very exciting for us. They get to, you know, work here and then go right back home, you know, just a couple exits away from the freeway. And so that's very very exciting for them. they didn't have to worry about commuting to longer distances which in California can be quite an odyssey. It also helped keep retention. So it was important to our leadership team to keep the business here and again it just demonstrates our commitment to continue to grow the business right here in the city of Corona

throughout the transition from one location to another. We had a very successful partnership with the city of Corona themselves and and a lot of support when it came to, you know, moving to a whole new home. And so that was really exciting for us and we truly appreciated the support from a structural standpoint. We appreciate everything the city's done for us as well. And you guys have made yourself very available to us. Again, we actually engage with the city on a few occasions to really help us navigate because there's always some new regulation that comes up. Um, and definitely having someone that's uh well-versed in those rules and regulations has really helped us uh smooth the process out a bit for us.

So, by by taking the pledge, uh we actually got a lot of other resources, right, that came in with that partnership. They help us with remarketing, right? they really feature us uh when it comes to, you know, their website because it really does open up ourselves to different talent, you know, people that maybe haven't heard of Lit 236 Foods and they're able to uh show them what we do here locally. So, I would take the pledge and I would encourage every other company to do so because again, there's a lot of resources available with the city and the city is a great resource and has been a great resource for Latitude 36 Foods.

So, take the pledge today or contact us to learn more. Good morning everyone. We're here at City Park. We have our first big street clean up of 2024. We had about 50 volunteers come clean up the city as well as paint the skate park. It came out really great.

It's good to help our community. [Music] All right. All right. [Music] Well, good evening everybody and welcome to our city council meeting. We're going to start off with an invocation from Pastor Shannon Scott from Grace Baptist Church. Come on up, Pastor Scott. And then uh like last time after you're done, can you lead us in the pledge?

Lead us in the pledge afterwards. I sure would. Thank you, brother. It's good to see you, mayor.

It's good to see all of you. Thank you for being here. Uh pray with me if you would, please. Father, thank you for being good to us and loving us. Thank you for the care that you give to us each and every day. Lord, we also want to say a special thanks for your care of our city, watching over and guide and protecting us and keeping us safe. We are grateful that your eyes are upon us at all times, especially as we think about those who may be most needy uh in our society, Lord, in our community. Uh we think about the fatherless and the widows. As always, Lord, we uh ask you to pay special close attention to them and look after them. Thank you for the hospitals and uh for all the n nurses and doctors and all that they do. Thank you for our police officers that work uh Lord and and provide safety and security in our city. Uh we think about the firefighters and first responders across the board. Lord, we thank you for all that they do keeping watch. Uh Lord, we're not thinking about them, but they're sure thinking about us when we have need. Lord, we thank you for these people that make decisions for the city. I pray that you'd be with each and every decision that's made tonight. Uh that you'd give wisdom and discernment to those who have to make these decisions. Sometimes they're tough decisions, but Lord, we thank you uh that you help them and that you'd watch over them, God, and protect them. Be with all in our city tonight. Uh keep them safe. We thank you for your goodness and your love. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's uh let's say the pledge together. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, brother.

All right. At this time, I would like to call the meeting to order. Miss Edwards, can you please read the special instructions?

Yes, Mayor. Individuals wishing to address the city council are requested to complete a speaker card and deliver it to city clerk staff prior to the item being heard by the city council. Please observe a three-minute limit for communications and once called upon to speak, please state your name and city of residence for the record. Mayor, there was a revision to the agenda item 9.3. The presentation was added. Also, for those needing Spanish interpretation for agenda item 9.1, listening devices are available. Copies of the presentation in Spanish are also available. Please come see the city clerk staff for a listening device or a copy of the presentation. If you would like to provide public comment during the item, staff is available to assist with interpretation. Thank you, mayor.

Gracias. Okay. The first we have three presentations or proclamations. The first ones is um I'm going to introduce to you our 2025 2026 mayor's youth council. So I would like to invite the mayor this year's mayor's youth council to the podium. Come on, don't be shy. [Applause]

Nice to meet you. Nice.

Good seeing you. Good to see you. Good to see you again. All right, Nimmer, where you at? Oh, there you are. I'm gonna have Nimmer. She's uh the liaison to the mayor's youth council who's also our intern and she's going to say a few words about the mayor's youth council.

Hi everyone. Once again my name is Nimmer and this is our current Corona City Mayor's Youth Council. And to give you guys a general idea, what we do is we give a lot of our students a more inside look into how city government operates, how it runs, and you know, how the different departments work together because we have all these amazing departments that do all these amazing things. And we're just giving like the new generation like a better outlook, more inside perspective into that. Um, my name is Nimmer once again. I am a senior at Centennial High School and I now ask that everyone goes ahead and introduces themselves. My name is Mana Core. I'm a sophomore at Centennial High School.

My name is Mab Singh. I am a freshman at Centennial High School. My name is Iran Gutierrez Peno and I'm a senior in Orange Grove. Hi, my name is Oscar Cornelio. I'm a senior at Corona High. My name is Steven McNab. I am a freshman at JFK. My name is Alexander Cybar and I am attended at JFK. My name is Brandon and I'm I'm a senior. I'm I'm from Morin Grove. Hi, my name is Annayia Saf and I'm a junior at Santiago High School. Hi, my name is Omar Sayed. I'm a senior at Centennial High School. Hi, my name is Neil Vora. I'm a junior at Centennial High School.

My name is Jack Herand and I'm a junior at Santiago High School. My name is Sawyer Contro. I'm a sophomore at Santiago High School. My name is Heather Pineda. I'm a senior at Corona High School. My name is Angie Urieta. I'm a junior at Corona High School. I'm Brianna Corona and I'm a senior at Santiago High School. My name is Camila Suarez and I'm a senior at Santiago High School. I'm Jack.

Great job. We're really proud of all of you. So, you want to come in front of the podium? We'll get a picture. There's enough of us where we can all scooch in as best we can. And we might have to make two rows. Tall folks in the back. Those shorties up front.

Everybody good? Everybody can see the camera. All right. Thank you. Good job, you guys. We'll be seeing you around. All right. All right. And as always, thank you Angela Needto for being the mentor for all these kids. Okay, next proclamation, Red Ribbon Week. I'd like to invite Lindseay Squire, our youth advisory council advisor with CNUSD district and students. I'm going to mess this up. Ana Mza, Amamira Jahid, Emilim or Lim and Sophie Nuin to the podium to receive the proclamation. Are there any red ribbon folks here? This This one might go fast. All right, Sylvia, have you heard anything? Any of the red ribbon folks not showing?

Mayor, no, we have not. Sorry.

Okay. Well, I'm still going to talk about it because we have a proclamation. So, this year's theme is life is a puzzle. Solve it drug-free. Whereas alcohol and other drug abuse in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. And whereas substance abuse is particularly damaging to one of the most vulnerable resources, our children. And a contributing factor in the three leading causes of death for youth are accidents, homicides, and suicides. Whereas it is imper imperative that visible unified prevention education efforts by community members be launched to eliminate the demand for drugs. And whereas the annual Red Ribbon Week, which is at a time to which is a time to empower communities to fight alcohol, tobacco, and other drug uses in their homes and neighborhoods, was initiated to commemorate the 1985 murder of drug enforcement agent Enrique Camarina. And whereas it is the goal of the California Red Ribbon Coalition to involve families, schools, businesses, churches, law enforcement agencies, and youth serving organizations in all aspects of this campaign and establish an atmosphere that supports awareness, education, and ongoing initiatives to prevent substance abuse. And last one, whereas the Croninarco Unified School District further commits its support and resources to ensure the success of the Red Ribbon Week and yearround alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention efforts. So, I'm going to ask our city clerk to get that to the right folks when it's time. Thank you. And we got one more. Okay. Okay, I'd like to invite Gretcha Dy, friends of the library, uh, friends of the library president to receive the proclamation. Gretchen, there she is. [Applause]

Hi, Gretchen. Hi. How are you? Good. Yeah. Good to bring it here, huh? Absolutely. How are you? Good. How are you? Hi. How are you? Hi, Jackie. Hi, Jackie. Thank you. All right. Got you over here.

Okay. Friends of the library, October 19th to 25th. Whereas Friends of the Corona Public Library raises money that enables our library to move from good to great, providing the resources for additional programming, muchneeded equipment, support for children's summer reading and special events throughout the year. And whereas the work of the friends highlights an ongoing basis the fact that our library is the cornerstone of the community providing opportunities for all to engage in the joy of lifelong learning and connect with the thoughts and ideas of others from ages past to the present. Whereas the friends understand the critical importance of a well-funded libraries and advocate to ensure that our library gets the resources it needs to provide a wide variety of services to all ages including access to print and electronic materials along with expert assistance in research uh readers advisory and children's services. Whereas the friends gift this is the last one. Whereas the friends of the gift of give their gift of time and commitment to the library sets an example for all in how volunteerism leads to positive civic engagement and the betterment of our community. Now there therefore be it resolved that I Jim Steiner to hereby proclaim Octo proclaims October 19th to to 25th 2025 as friends of the libraries week in Corona in California urges everyone to join the friends of the library and thank them all for what they do for our library and the community and making it so much better. Gretchen, would you like to say a few words? Sure.

Thank you so much for the proclamation. It means a lot to the friends. I have my vice president and uh Terry Seager Jaggers um Jan Army Miho and Somaya. They're just a small part of our volunteer group. We get our volunteer group has about 50 volunteers and we were just recognized at the volunteer um awards program and our volunteers give over 9,900 hours in a year just volunteering. So, we're just a small part of the group, but we love giving back to our library. Um, we raise about $100,000 in our little bookshop every year. So come, they're gently loved read books, puzzles, whatever. And then we have wonderful programs. We're having one on Saturday, Pa Palooa. Come out. It's at the library. Gently love purses um for great prices. And then and we have about 900 purses that were donated. And then and then also the following Saturday we have author event programs. We're having our um mystery authors. We have four amazing authors. They come. It's lunch. It's um $45, but it's an amazing afternoon of being able to question and answer with your um author. So, thank you again. This is wonderful. and I've enjoy I enjoy everything about the library. So, thank you.

Thank you for everything you do there. We'll get a quick picture. [Music] Thank you guys. Thank you. Alrighty, let's get down to the good stuff. All right. Uh, Miss Edwards, are there speaker cards in the public for the presentations or the proclamations?

Mayor, we do not have any speaker cards.

Okay. I am going to adjust some things on the agenda tonight because I know why many of you are here and I'm going to try not to keep you here all night. So, we're going to move you up near the front for the rent stabilization stuff. Also, I'm going to move up communications from the public so you can speak about items that are not on the agenda. So, let me let me find that real quick. Okay. So, communications from the public. Persons wishing to address the city council are requested to state their name and city of residence for the record. This portion of the agenda is intended for general public comment only, which means it is limited to terms within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council that are not listed on tonight's agenda. Please note this that state law prohibits the city council from discussing or taking action on items not listed on the agenda. The city council will appreciate your cooperations in keeping your comments brief. Please observe a threeminut limit for communications. Miss Edwards, were there any speaker cards from the public?

Mayor, yes, we have six speaker cards for communication from the public. Okay, so you can line up um in in the center row there. You can sit until you don't see you don't have to stand the whole time if you don't want, but as soon as you see it open, you can come up and speak. Good evening, ladies.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thanks for having us. Karen Alexander with Blueest Star Moms. Uh our chapter is a Corona chapter and the reason CA30, and we're here to talk to you about uh our care packages and to our community. We do this every year and it's very near and dear to our hearts. But first, we would like to thank council and city staff for putting together the renovation of the veterans memorial. Uh we're just thrilled that November 11th, Veterans Day, the grand reveal is going to happen and we'll be there uh 9:00 a.m. city hall and we invite the public to join us. Uh that is a result of a great uh outreach to our veterans. So, they had input and uh we appreciate everything the city's done for that as we um support our veterans. As far as what we're here for tonight, the care packages, as you can see up there on the screen, uh we collect uh APO and A uh FPO addresses, that's the service members are deployed overseas. And what we do is we uh collect those from the community. So, we invite anyone uh friends or family whose service members are deployed, uh go ahead and send an email to us and let us know what that is and we'll include care packages. Um, we're going to be sending out uh care packages for this winter and we'd love to include any of your family or friends that are there. Uh, we have a long history of loving our veterans and we'd certainly like you to email u blueestaromca30 uh on our website which is bluearom hom.org. You can send the email with the address of course with the service member or if you'd like to assist with a very expensive mailing cost. Uh we'll accept donations towards that. And then we have new this year an Amazon list link and from there that you could order the items that you'd like to include uh from our specific list that's authorized and

then we'll go ahead and get that sent to us at our office. So again, thank you mayor and council. Thank you Karen. Thank you everybody. [Applause] Hello, Miss Paxton.

Good evening, council. Um, Maddie Paxton, 33-y year resident. Tonight, I just have two criticisms and a compliment. The first criticism drives me crazy is, and you're all well aware of it, but people back there aren't, that Facebook is not the appropriate place to put criticisms. If you got something to say, tell all of you because it's it's really irritating that they think that action is going to be taken because it's on Facebook. Um, get up here, be brave enough, send an email, call in, but don't complain. And if you've it's just it's it's craziness. Um the second thing is that display screen. I'm real sorry, but that really is horrible. We used the previous one we could in the back. We could see everything. We could see the votes that were taken. This is useless. I mean, I'm standing up here and I can barely read the writing. Not good. Um come back there and see that we can't see the votes. We can't see anything that's taken. The compliments. The comp first compliment I want to give to um Chief Newman and the CPD for always being there and always just helping out the community with all their community outreach events. They go far and away just to help be part of the community and um I lied. It's really also a second compliment to Miss Edwards and her team. It's Caleb and Christian. I can give them stuff and they're just amazing to keep up with it. and I just really want to thank them for me being able to count on them to always be there to support me. So, thank you.

Thank you, Maddie. Good evening.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Kelly Montalvo and I'm a resident of Corona. I'm here tonight to promote an event that we have coming up here in Corona. It is an event to I think I have a flyer somewhere so hopefully it's it's getting up there. Um it's an event to we're calling it Loop the Lanes and it's a bike ride and a and a walk to ride in the new bike lanes on Sixth Street. We're starting out here in on Vicea and then just looping around. I guess it's about 2 miles. It's about 0.9 miles each way. um a little nervous because we don't have a lot of sign up right now, but we'll be here and with our with our spirit and some of us on our bikes and some people walking. Uh it is on our social media. I'm with Safeinland Empire and that's safeieie.org. People can sign up both on the flyer and through our socials. Thank you for your time tonight.

Thanks, Kelly.

Good evening. Good evening. Happy Wednesday. My name is Rory. I live in Corona, as you all know. Uh, I want to start by thanking whoever got the trash cleaned up at Elserto Park on Friday night. It's no secret that that's overcrowded. We need more space for sports, but cleaning that up was awesome. So, thank you. Genuinely, thank you. I guess where my concern comes in is the efforts that I had to take in order to get that done. I don't think it's fair to any of you as council members that I've got to publicly blast you and call you out by name in order to get something done. It was put in Cclick Fix multiple times by multiple people. I talked to parks commissioners. I talked to some of you individually and then only when it was public shaming on social media did something get done. That's not fair to you guys. That's not your job to do it. It's somebody's job to do it. And the fact that you guys are getting torched because someone's not doing their job isn't fair. And I do respect and appreciate the fact that you're responding and acknowledging those things, but after that it's not getting done and it hasn't been. So, I would expect and hope to see that those parks are clean on the weekends during hightra times. Like, that's a fair request. We raised our taxes for health and public safety. That's what everyone voted for in this community even though I didn't agree with it. So, if we're paying for it, we should get that level of service. Secondly, I got to address as a business owner your comments, Jackie, about downtown and the business loan program. Highly disappointing,

disgusting. I own and operate a business in this community and what I heard you say was downtown has failed because of the businesses. And then I also heard you say we're not trying to push anyone out. Everyone gets a seat at the table. Right. That's that's what you said in synopsis. But how is it an option for someone like All-American Karate or anyone in this room to rent the space in the South Mall when it's not even listed publicly online? You've curated and picked your winners and losers there. And it's not an option for people in this community unless they have some sort of personal affiliation with one of you or a staff member. That's what it appears to be because I know people that show up regularly that have shown desire to be in that space and they're not given the opportunity because that's not what you curated. And it's hard for me to stomach that as a business owner in the private sector from someone who works in the nonprofit sector. No offense to you. There's nothing to disrespect that. But I live and work in that space and I don't feel like that is being acknowledged. Thank you.

Thank you. and we hope to be able to share some information with you soon that's going to dispel a little bit of that. Um, and then also our city manager is putting a plan in place already to address the El Certo situation. But thank you for bringing that to our attention. Good evening. Evening.

My name is David Mcnot. I've been a resident of Corona for 25 years. I love the city. Uh, I moved here from Orange County and I love every minute that we've been here. I got a thing in the mail a couple days ago from somebody that's advocating not doing rent control for the city of Corona. Mr. 500,000 Mr. McNo, I don't want to interrupt you, but so that is on agenda item 9.1. So this p this comment section is for items that aren't on the agenda. Okay. Okay. And I'm going to bring it back right after the six speakers are done. So you'll be right back up here. Okay. You just sit close and you'll be the first speaker. How's that sound?

I want to thank Wes speak. Which one is you is Wes?

Wes. I I gave Wes a note about a year ago about terrible roads uh over off of Lincoln and can't remember the name of the side street, but he went on it, got on it right away. Beautiful job they did. and he said it was already on the agenda, which is encouraging to me. I I can't stand driving down Sixth Street. I'm I'm sorry. Main Street, it's bumpy, bumpy, bumpy ruts everywhere. And I think we need to spend a little money on that part of that community. it from Sixth Street all the way up to Magnolia or I guess not Magnolia Foothill. It's in bad shape and we need some work done on that. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. And I think we're getting ready to repave what is it? 167 miles. 167 miles of pavement.

Good evening. Good evening. Uh Joe Morgan, 2063 Ren. So, I'm back again um to speak further and I will continue to speak about this until there's a public acknowledgement and apology for what happened. Um again, to recap, in the fall of 21, a council member uh did an unwanted shoulder massage on a director and that director filed a sexual harassment complaint. And to my as I'm understanding there was an investigation was a whole big thing but it was reported to the council member's employees not the employer. The employer being us. So we as the employer of the council member knew nothing of this or this process or what became of it. And so that was all in secret. Um, ostensibly the excuse would be this is a personnel matter, but the council members not personnel and not covered by personnel laws. You're accountable to us, not to not to your employees. You're accountable partially to the council, but mostly to us. So, as part of it, as part of the agreement, I understand that there was a written apology. Oh, well, hey, how about that? So, you never actually wr written wrote a written apology. So, I understand there was, but you know, I guess we won't know cuz it's all secret because there's no acknowledgement of any of it. So, the thing actually really did happen. And then, so everybody in the room knows, that employee was then very publicly fired 16 or so months later in a manner which I've only ever heard of once before, which was the DWP manager, and he wasn't even that publicly fired.

Right. So this director was marched out with a box in the middle of the day where very publicly you know essentially had the job executed right in front of them. Um so and there was a council code of conduct. Still no acknowledgement still no apology still no notification to your employees your employers us. So, and now, you know, even though it's supposed to be a personnel matter, now the council member's going around and downtalking the employee. Oh, yeah. There was also an agreement for this employer employee not to sue as I'm understanding. So, the employer was fired for no cause because they got severance and then there was agreement not to sue. But the council member feels content or safe enough ensconced in the in the increasingly allmale environment here that you can go around and walk around and and down talk the employee about stealing from the city and using a credit card illicitly. So you can you can you somehow you can skirt the personnel laws to talk trash about somebody, but you can't do it to to take responsibility for your own actions. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello, Colin. All right. Good evening, Honorable Mayor Steiner, uh members of the city council, and members of the public. Uh Colin Marovich here, senior district representative for State Senator Sabrina Cervantes representing the 31st district. Um did just want to come before you tonight to take the opportunity to make a brief announcement um that we're very excited about. Uh we will be having a mobile home rights workshop coming up this Saturday, October 25th. Um there will be an opportunity uh to talk with our partners, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as Inland County's legal services um to learn about your rights as a member of the mobile home community. Uh we will also have the opportunity to learn more about the complaints process, ask any questions of our partners, uh and also have an opportunity to review the 2025 mobile home law handbook. Uh, so there will also be Spanish and American Sign Language interpretation provided. Um, but did just want to take the opportunity to let the council know that this will be coming up on this upcoming Saturday, October 25th, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Reachouts Rupa Valley Resource Center. Um, and we do ask that uh we just do ask that folks who plan to attend RSVP to our office at 951-680-6750. I do have some flyers with me as well that with the council's permission, I'd be happy to leave with a member of your staff or in the back, whatever works. and leave it with the city clerk.

Okay. Can do. And then um yeah, if anybody has any questions, we'd be happy to answer them. But otherwise, we look forward to seeing members of the community there on Saturday, October 25th. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other speakers? All right. Seeing none, we are going to get into item 9.1, which is the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance ad hoc committee recommendations. And we are going to start with Karen Roer, our housing and homeless solutions manager, who will present this item.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members. I'm happy to be here with you this evening. Uh on June 18th, your council directed staff to exclude the inloo agreement option and also you directed your city council ad hoc committee um acknowledging Vice Mayor Casillas and council member speak to return to your full council with recommendations for key provisions of a mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. And we have with us tonight our consultants that are going to be first of all Dominique Clark from RSG will present the um recommendations for the key provisions of the stabilization ordinance and then Tony Thrasher from Wilban Financial Services will provide an overview of the fees that are related to the proposed mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. So with that, I'm going to turn the floor over to Dominique from RSG.

Thank you. Hello, Dominique.

Good evening. As Karen mentioned, I'm Dominique Clark from RSG. I'm a director there. RSG is a consulting firm that was established in 1979, and we advise cities and counties throughout California on various issues related to affordable housing and economic development. Our ask of city council tonight on this agenda item is that you would provide staff direction on the components to include in a draft mobile home rent stabilization ordinance or RSO, which we anticipate will be presented for first reading as soon as late fall. So, this presentation has four parts. I will do my best to get through it efficiently while also being clear. Um the first part is a quick background section. The second is the ad hoc committee recommendations. The third is talking about the estimated fees and at that point Tony Thrasher from Will Dan will come up and we'll share those slides and then the last section is next steps after tonight. So to provide some quick background on how we got to where we are tonight, my understanding is that some mobile home residents have been asking for a rent stabilization ordinance for many years. Most recently in June 2022, they made a request to the city council. In response to that request, council directed staff to look into developing a rent stabilization ordinance and program. The city then retained RSG in early November 2022 to prepare what we now call the phase 1 study, which is essentially where we analyze the mobile home parks in Corona to determine whether there was legitimate reason for the city to consider rent stabilization, which was specifically for 10 mobile home parks in the city. In that study, we found that there was legitimate government interest to to consider rent stabilization. In

that same study, RSG provided three options for how the city council could proceed. The first was to continue down the path of an RSO. The second was to consider establishing negotiated agreements, which are sometimes called memorandums of understandings or sometimes called inloo agreements. It's all the same idea of a contract that would either be between the park owners in the city or the park owners and residents. And in that contract, it would stipulate what the annual rent increase limit would be. And then the third option was to do nothing and wait for potential state legislation to address the issue. In response to that study, city council directed staff to proceed with establishing a rent stabilization program. So then RSG completed what is called the phase 2 study where we provided various options for structuring a rent stabilization program based on how other jurisdictions throughout California have structured their programs. In response to our presentation of that study in September 2024, city council directed staff to move forward with a mobile home rent stabilization ordinance, but to also take another look at this inlue agreement idea based on feedback that was provided by park owner representatives at that meeting. In November 2022, the city council designated Vice Mayor Casillas and council member Speak to serve as an ad hoc committee to take a closer look at this inlaw agreement idea and gather information from the community. So, the ad hoc committee held four workshops. Two were with park owners, two are with homeowners to collect feedback on the ENL agreement concept. Ultimately, in June 2025, city council directed staff to proceed with the RSO, excluding the ENL agreement option and also directed the ad hoc committee to finalize its recommendations on how to structure the RSO. In July, the ad hoc committee held two more workshops, one with park owners, one with homeowners to collect their feedback on how to structure the RSO.

So now that we've provided some background, I will spend time on what is the bulk of tonight's presentation in which I'm on behalf of the ad hoc committee presenting their recommendations for how to structure the RSO. Many of these recommendations are based directly on the feedback that was received from the park owners and the homeowners in the workshop. As you can imagine, the feedback that we received from these two groups were very different. So the committee was trying to balance both sides. Additionally, the committee was trying to balance the fact that if we're going to have a rent stabilization ordinance, we want to make sure that it's enforced and followed by park owners while at the same not at the same time not creating so many enforcement mechanisms that we create a time-consuming and costly program to administer. So the ad hoc committee recommendations I'll provide them um as seven key topics. So the first topic is the annual rent increase limit. So essentially the question here is if the city has a rent stabilization ordinance, how much can park owners increase the rents each year? The objective here is the city wants to make sure that park owners can increase rents every year to keep pace with rising operating costs. But the second objective is to prevent them from increasing the rents so much that it's excessive and unreasonable. So we're trying to find that balance in between those two objectives. The best practice is to establish annual rent increase limits that are tied to the consumer price index or CPI, which is one of the US government's official measurements of inflation. The committee is recommending that the rent increase limit be equal to 100% of the change in CPI over the last year capped at 3%. The committee is also recommending that a space's rent cannot be increased based on inflation more than once per year. The recommendation is that there would be no guaranteed minimum rent increase, meaning that in years with unusually low inflation, there would be no minimum percentage that park owners can expect to charge.

And they're also recommending that there be no rent banking, which means that if for whatever reason a park owner doesn't increase rents one year or they don't increase it to the maximum allowable, they cannot roll the unused portion to a future year. This slide shows the historic inflation in this region. This data is published by the US government, specifically the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, specifically for this region, which they call the Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario region. There's a QR code there if anyone wants to scan it and see and it'll take you to the website where we get this information from. As the table shows, in the last seven years, five of those years inflation was right around 3%. The exceptions were in 2022 and 2023 when inflation was much higher likely due to the unusual factors affecting the market after the height of the COVID pandemic. So if the RSO had been in effect in those years, the cap would have been at 3% under what is recommended tonight. And finally, this slide um shows how the process would work each year. Um the annual CPI rent increase process as recommended. Again, I will say again, this is all just recommendations. Nothing is set in stone. So, there's a lot of information here. I'll just summarize it by saying that each February, the city would use January CPI data to set the maximum rent increase for the following July to June period. and the city would then email each park owner the maximum new rent that they can charge per space in their park and with the intent to prevent any miscalculations. Then anytime between March and the following February, owners would submit a short form that we're calling a CPI rent increase confirmation form. And on that form, they would essentially confirm whether they're going to charge the maximum amount or a lower amount. Once a city certifies the park owner's proposed rents, park owners can then

issue a 90-day rent increase notice to the households as required by state law. The certified rents would be posted on the city's website and also in the park for the sake of transparency. And if a homeowner thinks they're being overcharged, they should contact the city as soon as possible, but they have up to two years. So the second key topic is related to petitions that the ad hoc committee recommends that the city accept requesting adjustments outside of that annual CPI rate increase process that I just talked about. So the first petition would be a fair return petition. This would be submitted by a park owner who believes that the annual CPI rate increase is insufficient for them to earn a fair return. Fair return petitions typically are tied to a specific year. So, the park owner is saying, "I did not earn a fair return in 2027 or 2029." And for that reason, they would only be limited to submitting one per year. Also, the committee is recommending that the petition would have to be submitted within 6 months of the year in question, the year when they believe that they are not earning a fair return. The second petition is a capital improvement petition. This would also be submitted by park owners. here they would be submitting it to request a temporary rent increase to be reimbursed for either adding a new amenity to the park or for substantially rehabilitating an existing amenity in the park. So to quickly explain explain how a capital improvement rent increase is calculated just to use simple math. If a capital improvement was $120 and there's two spaces in the park each household would pay $60. Typically we give them two options for how to pay. They can either pay $60 in a lump sum or we can give them a specific amount of time. So say we gave them five years to pay $60, which is 60 months. So they could pay $1 a month for the 60 months. Because they'd be reimbursing the owner over

time, we would also incorporate interest into that calculation. So it would be a little more than a dollar per month um to account for inflation. The committee is recommending that if a park owner wants to add a new amenity to the park and they intend to then be reimbursed by the park owners that they first take it to a vote and make sure that 51% of the households in the park want that amenity. The capital improvement petition can be submitted as often as needed, but it must be submitted within two years of substantial completion. The last petition is a homeowner petition, which would be submitted by a homeowner if they believe that their rent should be decreased either permanently or temporarily or frozen temporarily because they believe that the services they've received as a resident in the park has decreased without a commensurate decrease in their rent or if they believe that the park owner is out of compliance with the ordinance. The limit here is that residents would be able to submit no more than one petition per year and then city decisions on an issue is valid for one year. So for example, if a homeowner submitted a petition saying that the pool used to be open year round, now it's only open 3 months of the year, I believe I should get a rent decrease. If the city looks into that um claim and determines that it's not warranted, no rent decrease is warranted, then no other residents in that park can submit a petition on that same issue in that same park for a year. On the flip side, if the city determines that a rent decrease is warranted, then the city will make sure that all households that are affected by that decrease in amenities receive decreased rent, not just the person who submitted the petition. The limit on the homeowner petition is that it must be submitted within two years of the issue first occurring. The third key topic is how much rent can be increased upon turnover. Meaning when one household moves out of a space and a

new household moves in, the ad hoc committee is recommending vacancy deontrol, which essentially means that there would be no limit on how much the park owner can increase the rent for that new household. There are certain situations that the committee recommends putting in the ordinance that the rent cannot be increased even though it's being um even though the title is being transferred. That's detailed here. Essentially, it's if it's being transferred to an immediate relative or former spouse or co-enant as long as that new owner continues to reside in the home, they can't just rent it out. And then also if there's a existing mobile home owner and they replace their mobile home but they continue to occ continue to reside in the space then no rent increase would be allowed then. And we wanted to note that any new owners must meet the park standard qualifications for occupancy. So if it's a senior park the new owner must be a senior. Another piece to that is that we would ask park owners to at the beginning of each year to let the city know if a space becomes vacant in the next year, what's the maximum rent that you would charge. The intent behind that requirement is so that if there's a homeowner trying to sell their home, it can be more challenging to sell if they're not able to tell a potential buyer what the new rent is going to be. And we hope that this would address that. The fourth topic is related to penalties for non-complying park owners. Here we would defer to the m municipal code on general penalties which are shown here. Essentially, it would be up to a $500 fine based on how many violations of the same provision there are in a year. Additionally, we would ask that um park ownership and management if it's determined that they've been overcharging households, they would need to repay that three times what they overcharged. Our goal is that there would not be much instances of overcharging because the city would be calculating exactly what the new maximum rent should be. And then we're going to talk about fees later in the presentation. If a park owner has unpaid fees, the city would not approve or

certify a rent increase until all fees are paid. For topic number five, the question is who would provide oversight for this program? And specifically, who would decide on petitions that are submitted by homeowners and park owners? In some jurisdictions, they establish a rental review board or commission or they hire a hearing officer to make determinations on petitions. Of course, with every level of authority that you add, you're also adding costs and the ad hoc committee was sensitive to that. So, they're recommending that city program staff serve as the petition authority with the support of consultants. So, capital improvement petitions and fair return petitions are pretty complex. They require some level e of expertise and a lot of time to process. So it's expected that they would rely on consultants for those. But city program staff would handle the CPI rent increases, the day-to-day administration, and also the homeowner petitions. So the bulk of the responsibility would not fall on consultants. A lot of it would fall on city program staff. The sixth topic is related to how a park owner or homeowner can appeal the city's determination on a petition. Here we're referring to the municipal code which is outlined here. And the final key topic is roles and responsibilities of each party. So there would be three parties involved. The city, the park owners, and the homeowners. And so we wanted to spell out the roles and responsibilities of each. I'm not going to go through each of these for the sake of time, but I did want to point out the second point, which is that the city would be responsible for responding to general inquiries from park owners, homeowners, and the public about the ordinance and the program and city approved rent increases. We imagine with any new program, this is going to be most significant in the first year. There will be a lot of questions, but then we expect that in year two and beyond, the time on this will decrease significantly. This slide shows the park owner managemanagement roles and responsibilities. So the first

responsibility is a one-time responsibility. At the start of the program in January 2026, park owners will be asked to submit their 2025 rent roles just to establish what the current rents are so we know where we're starting. I'll skip the second points because I already spoke about that one. And then the next two are about paying fees. So we're going to get into the details about the the fee estimates as of today. I do want to say that fees vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction that has mobile home rent stabilization ordinances and some jurisdictions they charge no fees. So the park owners don't pay fees, the homeowners don't pay fe pay fees which means the city is essentially absorbing the costs and thus the taxpayers are paying for the program. So that's one approach. Another approach is some jurisdictions just charge the homeowners and charge the park owners nothing. And I've seen vice versa. They just charge the park owners and they don't charge the homeowners nothing. I've seen one jurisdiction where they charge $146 per space per year to the park owners and they can't pass any of it through. So, it varies widely. We've talked previously about splitting the fees 50/50. However, after the homeowner workshop, um, in that workshop, Bruce Stanton attended virtually and Bruce Stanton is general counsel for a group that represents mobile home owners throughout the state. And he stated um, at that meeting and also in a letter afterwards that the residents would be willing to pay up to $5 per space per month to cover the cost of the program. So based on that feedback, the ad hoc committee is recommending that the residents be charged that $5 per space per month and the park owners be charged the balance. So going back to the points here, the park management and ownership would be responsible for paying the annual fees. They would also be responsible for paying petition fees for only the capital improvement and fair return petitions. and then up to 50% of that

could be passed on to homeowners as a temporary rent increase that would be calculated by the city. Again, these are all recommendations. None of this is set in stone. This is all up for debate tonight and up to the decision of the city council. And then I've already talked about the last two, so I will go on to the next slide, which is the homeowner responsibilities. The first one is that at each park we will will ask the homeowners to designate one homeowner who will serve as the primary point of contact with the city. Secondly is to pay their share of the fees which we've already talked about. Third is to pay their share of petition fees and that's only if their park owner submits a capital improvement or fair return petition. And finally, we didn't want to require the park owners to have to submit a rent increase notice every time they send one out because that creates a lot of work for staff to administer and increases the cost of the program. So instead of that, we're asking homeowners to be aware of how they can check to make sure that their rent matches what was certified by the city. So again, it's going to be posted online on the city's website. It's going to be posted in the park. And then they'll also have this designated homeowner who will serve as a primary point of contact who will serve as a resource for the residents. So now we can transition to talking about the estimated fees. As was mentioned, the city retained a firm, a separate firm called WDAN to complete the fee study. Once completed, the fee study will will be presented to city council and city council will approve the official fee schedule for the program and at that time will determine how fees will be split between park owners and homeowners. So the numbers that we're about to show are all estimates based on the ad hoc committee's recommendations that I just presented. Should the city council decide to do something different than what the ad hoc committee recommended, which is absolutely welcome, then the estimates will change. And that includes how the fees are split between the park

owners and the homeowners. That's all just a recommendation, but none of it is set in stone. And that is what's going to be discussed tonight. So quickly before we show the estimates the numbers we wanted to talk through the recommended PE fee payment structure. So first is the RSO administration fees. So the purpose of these fees is to cover the day-to-day administration. So things like the city staff having to answer inquiries, also them handling the CPI rent increases. um also tracking all of the rents for all of the spaces in the 10 parks subject to the ordinance. So the recommendation here is that the park owner would pay the entire fee to the city once a year and then the park owner would be reimburse the homeowners portion by charging that $5 per space per month as a fee on their rent bill. For the capital improvement and fair return petition fees, the recommendation is that the park owner would pay the entire fee to the city when they submit the petition. And then if the city approves a rent increase based on that petition, the city would calculate a temporary rent increase to reimburse the homeowners their 50% portion to the owner over time. So it would be over a set number of years, three years or five years for example. And if the petition does not result in a rent increase, meaning that the city finds that the claim in the petition was not warranted, then none of the fee can be passed through to homeowners. And lastly, for the homeowner petition fee, the recommendation is that the homeowner would pay the city that fee when they submit the petition. If the city finds that the homeowner's claim in the petition is warranted and it results in a rent decrease or rent freeze, the city will reimburse the homeowner the P the fee that they paid. And with that, I will turn it over to Tony Thrasher from Will Dan to present the fee estimates.

Thank you, Dominic. Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm Tony Thrash with Willen Financial. I specialize in cost allocation plans, user fee studies, utility rate studies. I in essence say what things cost, right? So, we have a long council meeting. So, I actually put put together a script to try to keep on track here for you. Uh, a lot of what's already been said um is is kind of what's in here. We just want to show kind of some numbers to kind of give you idea what that means. Right? So starting off you know fee analysis utilize fully burden hourly rates as well as consultant cost to determine the total cost of the administration of the program. So the total cost of the of the program itself divided by the number of spaces in the city for the 10 parks comes out to $90 uh $99 per space per year. Right? based off of the recommendation uh of $5 per month for each part uh homeowner uh that comes out to $60 per space being paid for by the homeowners portion and the remainder of the $39 will be paid by the park owners. Now in year two, I clicked that year two because there is anticipation of that cost going down in the second year after um more use to the program. Uh the cost per space would go down as an estimate to $62.16 per year for each space. Uh the recommendation is not to change the $5 fee per month uh for the homeowner. So they would still remain at $60 per year, but the park owners portion will go down to $2.16 per space per year. Now in year three, uh that would be the time which uh the cost would be reanalyzed to see what it has actually taken within the first two years and analyze what would be needed moving forward to re-evaluate the cost of the program and the perpace cost as well. Now what this table is meant to show is the sorry it's skipped ahead here. I I write a script, but I can't stick to it. I just start talking. Sorry about

that. This is meant to show a uh breakdown of the administrative fees for each park uh for year one uh based off the ad hoc recommendations and based on the number of spaces for each park. It also includes the projected total in fees as well as the park owner portion for each park in those final two columns. The next slide is the same thing, but we're now we're talking about year two. So year two because of the decreased cost you can see the reduction in the total fees for each park as well as the reduced park owner portion as a result and those are in totals for each park onto the petition fees. Uh so for these uh the cost calculations were also done on a time basis. So what does it reasonably take to provide these services an estimate as well as the fully burn hourly rates and contract costs involved uh to result in each of the fees you listed here. Now each of the so the capital improvement petition fee as well as the fair return petition fee is the total cost rounded down to the nearest thousand. And uh just to be specific on that I know it's already been said but I want to reiterate it. Uh for both those two, the recommended recommended fee split share would be 50/50 between the park owner and homeowners if the petition was successful, right? Paid overtime through the rent. And if the petition does not result in a rent rent increase, the petition fee would not be passed on to the homeowners. And the difference uh between the final one is that is not the full cost. You see there, the full cost was uh calculated at $6,115, but the recommendation is to set that fee at $100. Uh no part of that fee would be passed on to the park owners. It'd be fully b born by the homeowners. Uh if the petition were to be successful, uh then that $100 would be returned to the homeowner. Uh but if not, then it would be kept by the city. And in addition to the administration program, these would also be re uh are

recommended to be re-evaluated in year three as well to just reidentify what's involved uh with the whole uh program itself. Okay. And now I'm going to pass it back to Dominique uh where she'll continue from there. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony. So we're at the last section. We just have a few more slides. Um here we wanted to talk about the tenative schedule provided that the city council decides tonight how to direct staff to structure the rent stabilization ordinance. So I won't go through each of these dates but I'll highlight the important dates. So on November 19th, we would be preparing actually legal council would be drafting the ordinance and would be prepared to present it for first reading and then at that same meeting's fee study would be presented and city council would consider approval of the fee schedule. The park owner representatives have said that they would like the draft ordinance to be made available as soon as possible before that meeting so that they can prepare with their public comments. So, my understanding is city would the city staff would be able to make it available on November 12th, a week before. Um, it would be available on the website and then the link to that website would be emailed to all of the park owners and homeowners who attended the workshops and they can forward it to whoever they like from there. If we continue with this schedule as shown, then on December 3rd, we would be ready for the second reading of the ordinance. January 3rd is when the ordinance would be effective and by January 30th is when we would ask the park owners to submit their 2025 rent roles. Again, this is a one-time requirement so we can establish starting rents. And then this slide shows the rest of the schedule, which is basically when the annual CPI rent increase process would start for the first time as I already walked through. Um, one important date here is April 1st. So all rent increases taking effect April 1st, 2026 or later would comply would need to comply with the ordinance per ad hoc committee's recommendation. And the reason why we're saying April 1st, not January 1st, is because the state requires a 90-day noticing period. So for example, a rent increase that takes

effect on January 1st should have already been noticed in October 1st. So we have a threemonth noticing period that we need to respect. Also, I wanted to highlight that this schedule basically means that no rent increases would take effect from April 2026 to June 2026. This isn't every year. This is just the first year because we need a transitional phase to prepare for the program roll out. As I mentioned, we want to give the park owners until January 30th to provide us our rent roles. And then city staff and RSD will be working hard to take those rent roles and make a template for each of the parks that spells out what the rent is for each space. And that allows staff to easily calculate the man the maximum annual rent increase each year. So that'll take us about six weeks and we'll be ready to go at the end of February. So then park owners can start submitting their CPI rent increase certification forms at the beginning of March. And again, because of the 90-day noticing period, that means the first CPI rent increases would take effect on July 1st. And they can do that provided that they meet three requirements. One, they have to get the city certification. Two, they have to provide 90-day notice to the household after they receive that certification. And three, it must have been 12 months since the since the space's last rent increase. Two more dates to highlight is May 1st is when the city would start accepting petitions. And then June 30th would be the deadline for when park owners would need to pay the year 1 fees. For future years, we'd move that deadline up to the end of January. But for the first year, we wanted to give more time because the fees are the highest in year one and they had the least amount of heads up about the fee coming. So that concludes the presentation. I thankful to the city council and the public for your patience as I went through those details. Hopefully it's helpful for the discussion tonight. And again, the ask is that city council would provide staff direction on how to structure the mobile home rent stabilization ordinance. I'm available for any questions if needed. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we're going to go to the public first. Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards on the public? Mayor, yes, we have um 15 speaker cards, but we also received nine written comments and two phone calls in opposition of rent stabilization, and we received four written comments in support of rent stabilization. Okay, thank you. So, if you would like to speak on this topic, now is your chance. Make sure you fill out a blue card and pass it to Miss Edwards, and you can do that after you speak if you want. But mayor, yes. Could you clarify was that 15 or 50? Speaker cards. Oh, speaker cards. 15. Thank you.

All right, Miss Paxton. Looks like you might be up first.

Good evening again, council members. I have been in um Villa Corona now for nine years. Um I wanted to bring a couple things to your attention. if you could please show the the mailers that went out. I've gotten a lot of questions about this and I really want to make it clear about this went out. Two sets went out and um make it implies other things other than mobile home parks. Please understand these came from the mobile home park owners. they're trying to get their point across and many people in the community via Facebook are complaining that this also applies to apartment rentals and other rentals. So, we have to make it absolutely clear this is who's behind all of this and it is for mobile home park residents only. Um, they also got a text message from them. Same thing about this as this were going to be a a general election vote which this is not. And um I need to bring something to your attention that I found out late last night. There's something very sneaky that happened. The largest park we have is, as you know, is Green River. And um uh I can't remember the name. I just went blank on on the name of the park owner. They scheduled a meeting for Friday night to regard um new reg um rules and regulations to be adopted January 1st. What they did last night, the letter went out to all of the residents. what they did at the last minute is changed it to tonight at 7 o'clock. So, we know that we've had a lot of speakers from that part come in, but they can't be here because they're dealing with that. So, please be aware why we don't have that. And I need to make it clear, this is for only um RSO. And if I can have you show the spreadsheet, please, that you all have copies of what I want to bring to your attention on this, and that's why I sent copies because it's hard to see. I did all the mobile home parks within Corona within the zip codes

of Corona. The first part, the the purple one, the park on border, it is a residentowned is not subject to RSO. Doesn't count. The very bottom ones in yellow, they're outside. They're corona zip codes, but they are not Corona city limits. They're also not part of this. Broke it down by districts, you can see. And then it's by how many um spaces are in within each district. What I need to bring to your attention because we haven't driven this part home very much is look at the blue line. Originally we had three parks that were set up as age restricted 55 only. Those parks are um again Green River um Villa Corona and Flamingo. Today the only one that's um age restricted is Flamingo and seems to be a good actor in all of this. I've spoken with the with the owner and seems seems to be playing very well with his um residence. What we need to understand is three these three parks constitute 53% of the mobile home spaces. These people moved in back I did not but moved in as a senior and it their rent is difficult to be um kept up with because of um uh being on a fixed income. So my time is up.

Thank you ma'am. Thank you very much. Welcome back.

Thank you for welcoming me back. Um, so I've been here give or take 10 years watching this process play out and I'm I'm I'm breathlessly waiting for the for the industry people to come up and tell us how, you know, how horrible this is going to be and how they're they're all really nice people and looking out for looking out for everybody and, you know, we're just we're just trying to provide housing. We would never do anything mean. We would never do anything bad that would put anybody out. We've seen how they deal with people. We've seen how uh we've seen how they uh how they act, how they behave. Um you know, I I'm I'm very concerned about the the vacancy deontrol. Um basically, it puts a target on the back of residents. You know, that it sort of turns them into a target of opportunity. And when you can when you can cash in and and substantially increase rent, put it in back to market, whatever that is. Um, with, you know, no real controls on turnover, they they have been shown to encourage turnover, to pick on people, uh, to go after people that they think are maybe vulnerable and and, you know, there shouldn't be a strong financial incentive for that. you know, if it feels like the the balance may be off just a little bit. It it's it seems a little unreasonable to me to cap it no matter what at three. You know, maybe it could be a percentage above or below CPI, you know, where if there was a whole bunch of inflation, like everybody in the whole world's got to deal with that. But then to have vacancy deont control, you know, seems to almost fly in the face of even having a rent stabilization ordinance that that it it creates such a strong incentive if you can you can change the rent from 750 to,500 by bumping somebody out. If you

don't think the park owners, a lot of them, most of them are good people, but some of them will definitely do that. They will definitely do that. Some of the people that are here to speak tonight would definitely do that. all the while saying, "Oh, god, poor golly g, we're just here trying to provide housing." So, you can you you already know how reputable these people are or aren't. Um, you know, and I I second I I've I've dealt with some people from Flamingo before. They seem to be some of the people that get it. Um, you know, so there are some that get it and there are some that don't. Thank you very much. Thank you. Who's next? We got at least 13 more speakers. Don't be shy.

Good evening.

Good evening. Uh Steve Husner, Corona Linda Space 123. First, I just want to thank you for how far we've come. What has it been 10, 12 years? I remember pointing in God we trust. So, I do believe God is doing a work. So, I just want to thank you for all your time and effort and I do keep praying for the uh rent stabilization to be um that you guys will see everything what's best for the city and the residents. I'm just going to read something here, a little bit of information on cost of living adjustment. Um the 10-year average social security cost of living adjustment increase is 2.75% compared to the consumer price index. the 10-year average of 3.7%. So fixed income retired people and disabled people living on social security are not keeping pace with the inflation. So instead of the CPI, the rent increase should be tied to the social security um cost of living. This letter, this will better reflect the market that serves uh retirees. So, um I'm not as involved as last time, but um we're praying for 2% increase because we got to pay all these other fees and everything. So, um I just wanted to throw that out there and mainly thank you for uh how far we've come. Thanks.

Thanks, Steve. [Applause] Next, welcome.

Good evening everyone, city council members. This is Eugene Physique from Corona and Green River Village. [Music] part of this. I'm very happy for you to even make it this far, but as I said before, there's always a two-headed snake and betrayal of the people in the mobile home parks by not getting the right information. Um, I do encourage, you know, if we had to do a percentage for the last 15 years that we've been trying to get something done with the city council members, the hardships we were having as seniors, if if the rate increases more than what we're getting as a fixed income, then there's going to be more homelessness. So I encourage you not to betray us but to go with the 2% and if we have to 75% of the CPI and I would like everything in writing. If the park owners want us have things in writing we expect to get writing back letting us know our score on this whole situation. because I have another issue I'll address next time. Thank you.

Thanks, Eugene.

Good evening. Hi. I'm from Kerno West and um just want to thank everybody that has actually been up here. Um what's your name, ma'am? Oh, Monica. Thank you. Sorry. That's okay.

Sorry. It's my second time speaking, so I get nervous. Um, so yes, I just want to thank uh everybody that has actually been, you know, pushing this for 10 years and um, also address those flyers that went out with misinformation making it seem like what we're talking about tonight affects people in apartments or homes when this driving force has been specifically for mobile homes. and you know a lot of the elderly people that will be affected if RSOs don't come into play in the city of Corona. Um specifically my dad, he's been talking about retiring and I don't I don't even feel safe for him to do so. I I don't know um if he will be protected, if he'll feel safe of feeling like he should retire and having the city of Corona protect him and knowing that he can live here and actually afford to live here with retirement money. Um so I I do want to ask for that 2% as well. Um I I feel that that would be justifiable with also any of the fees that will be coming to the um homeowners. Um so I just want to thank everybody here. Also, um I know last time that we were here talking about this, um it was mentioned that park owners had had a lot of years to even talk to any of the homeowners and really want to like sort things out or talk to us and make things justifiable because a business is a business. We understand that part, but at the end of the day, people are humans and should feel safe

and that they're listened to. Um, so yeah, sorry for the rambling, but I just want to thank everybody tonight and I just really do hope for that 2%. So, thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Hello.

Hi, my name is Gina Weisman and I'm also at Corona West Space 60. Um, this is my first time. Um, we've been there three years. When we moved in, the space rent was,75. Our mortgage is $1325. Our space rent now in three years is more than our mortgage. I'm on social security disability. I make $817 a month. And my husband just lost $1,200 a month in overtime due to situations with delivery packages that he works for DHL. So, he's lost a lot of overtime. and they just denied us any kind of help. They said, "We make too much money. We're going to end up losing our home and um both my parents are gone and that's how we got this place. Um none of our aunts and uncles are alive and we would have nowhere to go. If they continue to raise this, we're going to lose everything." And so that 2% would really help us a lot. I'm sorry for crying. Okay.

Um I'm just so frustrated and I had also medical help with Medicare and they just denied me. They said my um social security is too much also. So we're really struggling and trying to just make the best of what we have. Um we understand that the land has you know they have to keep up the maintenance on the pool and this but they don't the playground's been there for years. They don't do anything to the playground. So it's not like they're doing a whole bunch. And this morning, our neighbors called us at 5:00 this morning. And I've also um suggested security through our park. We've had many thefts. Um our neighbors called us at 5:00 this morning. There was someone in their uh backyard and he was pulling on their handles of the car and the police were called. But um it's just a lot. So, thank you for letting me talk.

That is a lot. Gina, wish you the bunch of luck. Thank you. All right. Who's up? Have some of you decided that you don't really want to speak after all, which is fine. Oh, come on up, sir. Yes. I get only a couple questions.

My English is not pretty good, but I try to. No problem on me, amigo. Okay. You know, you know, I be when the lady say, you know, the income, you know, it's okay. You know, it's it's not good. You know, we are retired people. If you'd like to speak in Spanish, Mr. Perfect, you know. Sure.

Um the problem is you know the most you know 55 and you know elder people you know we get fixed income. So if the rain just keeping up and up, you know, people may be going live under the bridge, you know. So good afternoon everybody. My name is I'm your interpreter tonight along with my coworker. Thank you. And when you speak, please speak into the mic so we can all hear you. Sorry, I heard most of it. Very good. Okay, I'll I'll be quick. Marie Santiago. I'm your Spanish interpreter along with my coworker Blanca. My name is Ana Alpis Herrera. Anival Alpis. Alpis. Herrera.

Herrera. Yes. I live the space 22 in Flamigo Melo. That one is still pretty good now. You know, I actually I work all my life. You know, I retire already. I work union 20 year union. You know, I received a little money not much for the union, but for the social security is not too bad and all. Oh, okay. Okay. I have worked my entire life

and then I retired couple years ago. Thank you. Oh my goodness. Sorry for that. I a few years ago. And then I the only I'm the only one who earns an income in my house. Yeah, it's me and my wife. It's two. It's my wife and I in our household. And then it's my only money. I think that he doesn't need He's pretty good, huh?

We'll be allotted extra time because of the interpreter. So my wife she's in uh disabled. We have been fighting with uh social security. Um so it is just my income. Exactly. And then that's the reason for for which I cannot be in agreement um with the fact that my landlord can raise my rent every time he or she wants to.

Yes sir. That's it. And then like that. So I would like to encourage you to be um to be thoughtful um about programs that perhaps would aid uh people senior citizens or people in old age. That's all. Thank you very much for everything.

Thank you for coming out to speak, sir. [Applause] All right. Is that it? All right. Come on up. Good evening. My name is um Mary Hayes. I'm here to represent my mom. Um as you can see, she's scared to come up here with me.

I don't blame her. And um she opposes the audience especially every everybody that's here is speaking about that they're you know on a fixed income. My mom is and you hear about all these fe these fees and it's just putting a lot of fear into her that she's not going to be able to afford this. Um so we're hoping that we're just want to let you know that we are opposed of this. And I also have the her neighbor that's here. He also he speaks Spanish. So we're going to need a translator. Okay. Okay. Have he has he filled out a blue card? Do we know? I don't think he did. Should I go fill it out for him? Come do it before he leaves, please. Yeah. Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, everybody. [Music] My name is Fontan. I live in Flamingo, Space 69. We are living very hard moments. Hard times. There's not very much work. Rents are increasing. I'm about to retire, but I do not know if they're going to allow me to

because my money, my income is the only one that we have in our household. I I'm a driver. They do not allow me to have medical because I have some other illnesses, pre-existing conditions.

What will I do if rent increases and they don't want to give me work? I'm not the only person. There's many drivers in the same position. So, what are we going to do? If you can help us in any way, at least um not allowing for rent to increase. That's my petition to you if you could help us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Welcome.

Good evening. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. I've met a couple of you. Nice to meet you again. Uh my name is Jerrell. I am here as a park owner representative to express serious concerns regarding the proposed rent control ordinance or rent stabilization and the process by which it has been developed. Mobile home parks operate much like small municipalities. We manage infrastructure, utilities, services, all of which are subject to increasing costs, including insurance, property taxes, labor, materials. These operating expenses rise year-over-year, often outpacing inflation. The ordinance, as recommended by RSG, imposes strict limitations on rent increases while also establishing an unreasonably high cost for submitting capital improvement petitions. This cost appears designed to discourage owners uh from pursuing needs uh needed adjustments, thereby deterring reinvestment in park infrastructure. Park owners take pride in their communities. We invest in maintaining and improving them because we understand the direct correlation between the condition of our properties and the value of our residents homes. When rate increases are unduly limited and necessary uh limited and necessary, capital improvements passed through are obstructed. The result is underinvestment. Over time, this leads to blight and detering conditions uh deteriorating conditions which impact residents property values and the broader city. We also are concerned about the role of RSG in this process. RSG was hired to consult with stakeholders and help shape the ordinance. Yet, they were also being positioned to implement and oversee its enforcement. This d this dual role raises questions about impartiality and presents a clear conflict of interest as the same consultant who designed the framework stands to benefit financially from its administration. Park owners participated in the stakeholder process in good faith and presented alternative

solutions that would achieve the city's goals without placing undue financial burdens on the city, its taxpayers or residents. Unfortunately, these proposals were not adequately communicated or considered. We urge this uh the council to re-evaluate this ordinance, consider the long-term impacts on housing quality and conditions, and ensure that any proposed ordinance is both fair and sustainable for all parties involved. Uh I appreciate the time, and I appreciate uh city council for taking the time to even go through this and deliberate. Um I'm also appreciative of the country, the country we live in to even take the time to do this to begin with. So once again, thank you again and um I hope that we can come to a an agreement on something that's fair. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome.

Good evening, mayor and council. I'm Julie Polly with the WMA and I want to start off by thanking the ad hoc committee uh council members, council member Casillas and West speak council member speak for taking so much time to meet with us, tour our properties, understand the uh the challenges that we have as mobile home park operators and so we very much appreciate it. Um, you also listened to our firsthand experiences with mobile home park rent control ordinances. Overall, these ordinances are incredibly harmful. They're expensive, divisive, and erode the affordability of our communities. A robust coalition of business and housing providers strongly oppose the recommended rent control ordinance. your local realtor association, chamber of commerce, apartment owners, home builders, and mobile home park owners all agree that a rent control ordinance is not the solution for cal for corona. However, we have uh indicated that the current situation should be addressed and that's why we brought forward theou. So to the residents in the room, I'm sorry that no one took the time to explain how you personally would benefit from anou. You deserve that education and an opportunity to ask questions and you were never provided that. And for the amount of money spent on this contract, you should have been done. The half million dollars residents will spend over the first eight years of this ordinance is just the beginning. You are at great risk of special increase applications that have hefty application costs. and case law mandates that residents um are to pay and reimburse the park owner back for their expert and attorney's fees in those applications. Your community organizers won't be there when you get stuck with the bill from this ordinance. So don't let them stoke Philill in an stoke fear in an agreement structure that they have no experience with. Residents in National City, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga,

Sunnyale, Modesto all have rental protections that cost them nothing. And specific and most importantly, they have no no threat of a large special rent increase application. I think it's worth noting that not all the residents in Corona support this. The residents of Flamingo are very concerned about their park selling because it's a mom and pop landlord that is completely overwhelmed by this this bureauc this proposed bureaucracy. And with that will come a hefty special rent increase for a Prop 13 reassessment upon the sale. Probably the most important reason to enter into anou is the availability of rental assistance. Corona does have residents who have been able to demonstrate need and are currently on the MET program. That will end January 1st if you adopt rent control. And those that can least afford it will have large rent increases. Anou would actually expand parkowner funded rental assistance rather than repeal it. Thank you.

Thank you, Julie.

Good evening.

Good evening. Uh, good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Aspen Remington and I help oversee a mobile home park here in Corona. I'm here today to discuss the proposed rent stabilization ordinance. I want to thank you for the time and the effort you've dedicated to understanding this complex issue and for inviting both park owners and homeowners to participate in the process. I'm here tonight because I truly believe we share a common goal, long-term stability of our residents and fairness for everyone involved. However, I am deeply concerned about the direction the process seems to be taking and how it may unintentionally burden both our community and the city. Earlier this year, park owners came together and agreed to sign a binding memorandum of understanding. Anou is designed to protect the residents by capping rent increases and keeping those increases fair and predictable. This proposal aimed to create the same stability as a rent stabilization ordinance, but would have done so without the added expense or need for outside oversight. Unfortunately, during the homeowner workshops, it appears residents were not fully informed that the memorandum of understanding would be legally binding for the park owners with enforcement uh with enforceable rent protections for the homeowners. That misunderstanding, I believe, changed the outcome and has now pushed us towards a proposed rent stabilization ordinance that will cost the city and residents tens of thousands of dollars. In fact, in the first year alone, over $100,000 is to be split between the homeowners and park owners. Rather than adopting an expensive rent stabilization ordinance with costly oversight, I urge the council to revisit the memorandum of understanding proposal. I believe if the homeowners better understand the benefits of a me memorandum of understanding, we can achieve real rent stability through a voluntary enforcable agreement, one that doesn't divide our community or drain

city resources. Thank you for your consideration and understanding. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Thomas Pachelli and I represent J&H Asset Property Management and the owners of Amberlite and Rancho Corona. I have been in the industry for 20 years and have seen firsthand the unintended consequences of rent control. And I've also have firsthand experience with theou in Rancho Cordova. I'm here tonight because we all want the same thing, safe, well-maintained, and affordable mobile home communities in Corona. But the city's proposed rent control ordinance isn't the right path forward. It adds bureaucracy, costs the city and residents money, and harms the very communities in which it meant to protect. Over the past year, park owners have worked in good faith on a memorandum of understanding orou which you've heard of. The MOU provides real tenant protection without city imposed fees or administrative costs. An MOU is a local solution built on collaboration and understanding, not mandates or conflict. The MOU also goes further than rent control ever could as it allows for rental assistance programs and hardship protections for residents who truly need help. It's fair, it's flexible, and focused on keeping residents in their homes without creating financial strain on the city or park operations. Strong communities depend on good maintenance and reinvestment by emphasizing higher maintenance standards. The NYU helped preserve and even increases home values in mobile home parks. Rent control unfortunately does the opposite. It discourages reinvestment, delays improvements, and over time hurts the very people it aims to protect. In short, Corona does not need rent control. We already have a better solution within a proposedou. It protects residents, maintains quality communities, and keeps the city out of unnecessary costs and disputes. Let's continue in building on cooperation and not regulation. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Jason Castine and I represent Green River Village. First, I would like to thank the ad hoc committee for their work and their incorporating some park owner owner concerns into the proposed rent stabilization ordinance. However, I respectfully urge the council to reconsider the key aspects of the proposal as we believe it will have unintended consequences on affordable housing in our city. One major issue is a lack of a CPI floor. As known in the CPI chart, the proposed cap would have benefited residents in four of the last seven years. Yet during those same years, operating costs continue to rise. Without a minimum increase or banking provision, allowing owners to use to apply unused CPI increases up to a 3% cap. Owners are left without any way to keep pace with inflation during low or negative CPI years. Additionally, the administrative burden placed on both the city and park owners is significant. CPI based increases should be automatic and not required for city approval. The proposed fee instruction for petitions is also an overly punitive and adds unnecessary cost to both owners and residents without delivering meaningful benefits. We asked the city council to consider a more balanced approach, allow CPI increases without preapproval, reduce administrative fees, and enable residents to submit concerns that could be addressed as needed. Finally, I'd like to make one last plea for the city council to reconsider the memorandum of understanding, also known as theou framework. It would reduce administrative overhead and offer a fair collaborative path forward for all stakeholders. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sir, real quick, you said you're representing Green River. Yes, that's correct. Did you set that meeting for tonight at 7 o'clock? We had a meeting set. It was pre-planned. Um, it was not intended for people not to show up here. Okay. Thank you.

All right. This could be the last one. Good evening.

Good evening, honorable mayor. Members of the council, I'm Vicki Thally. I'm the executive director of MET. We have consistently come before you opposing any form of rent control or rent stabilization. As a matter of fact, this is the first time that our organization has come out in favor of anou. We can see how important and easy that would be for both the residents and the city. most importantly are the cost. Way back in September 24, Mayor, you were astonished at the potential cost of implementing a rent control ordinance and suggested that theou be re-evaluated. I think we've heard several speakers here this evening that have shared with you that we do not believe we do not believe that the residents in our mobile home parks have had the opportunity to truly understand what anou is. We under know that you do. You enter intous all the time with your unions and so on. So we know you understand it. The key is to the residents. We have also interestingly enough looked back and RSG suggested at one point that the city participate in a rent subsidy program. I know you're all very well aware that our organization provides a rent subsidy program for mobile home park residents. We would very much like to encourage you to re-evaluate this whole approach. Let's be helping people who are truly in need and need the help with a combined mobile home park owners association and city rent subsidy program if that could be helped to be funded. But let's not look at expending un extraordinary amounts of money on implementing an

unnecessary ordinance. The residents will be protected and those in need will be helped. You know, everybody living in a mobile home park is not for poor. Mobile home parks are not lowincome housing. Anyone living in a mobile home park does need to qualify to move in just as though they were buying a home and would have to qualify to move into that home. So we can the the pro proposals before you are to help those truly in need and then to have a reasonable rent increase and as we move forward with anou. that the unintended consequences of what you're proposing mean an immediate increase of $5 per month rent increase to the residents in every park. So, let's I implore you to please reconsider and consider helping those in need and working with us to help everyone understand better understand what anou is. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Welcome.

Hi everyone. Lydia from Corona Linda. Thank you for all your efforts speaking about the truth. Huh? Who knows the truth these days? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. We've been here year after year demonstrating and showing you guys all the hard work that we have done and that we continue to do to defend the little bit that we have most of us. And I'm here to encourage you and urge you to strongly not accept the ADHD committee recommendations to place the responsibility for petition decisions making which city staff with city staff, excuse me. We encourage you instead to assign these tasks to the California Department of Administrative Hearings. There are several reasons. First is the department of administrative justice is established for um municip uh for municipalities requiring jud judicial decision making. They have trained staff to administrate administrate hearings and so on experienced judges to hear the cases and make non um biased decisions. Corona staff do not have the necessary training or experience. It will add an excess layer of expenses to train them. And the second reason is because city staff is is local and they are subject to influence and bias. The judges from the department of administrative hearings are trained and take an oath to be nonbias. They will not be subject to local and or park owners pressure. And third, the Department of Administrative Hearings has been

established to our tax dollars and our tax dollars. We pay tax dollars. Thank you. And their rates are very reasonable. So all these people telling you, they need to show you in paper. If not, I please encourage you strongly not to listen to them because they're not the ones in need. We are if Corona staff handle petitions there will be an ex unnecessary layer of added expenses paid by the city for this purpose. There is no reason to re reinvent the will and waste taxpayers dollars. So we are thinking of our city. We are thinking of our money, tax money that we pay that it will be used, you know, appropriately and accordingly for other things that are more important for the city, not just for us homeowners. And we trying to negotiate with you guys and we trying to work out with you guys. And then please believe us because we speak the truth. Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome,

honorable Mayor Steiner and members of the city council. My name is Benjamin Kelly uh with the manufactured housing educational trust and we have been active an active participant along with WMA in re representing mobile home uh park owners in a prolonged discussion of the implementation of rent control and corona. MET is opposed to rent control as you've heard. Uh MET supports implementing a memor memorandum of understanding as you've also heard. Um the implementation um or the proposed cost to implement rent control will be paid by all Corona taxpayers along with the residents living in the city's 10 mobile home parks. If rent control is adopted, all mobile home park owners will receive an immediate um $5 monthly rent increase to pay for the administration of rent control and is only the beginning of the proposed um the proposal. As the proposal moves forward, mobile home owners living in parks where rents are significantly below established general market rents will potentially be faced with the immediate rent increase because of the need for a baseear rent adjustment. The baseear adjustments could result in substantial increase in rent supported by significant case law. And this is just one of the many um unintended consequences of rent control that have been brought to the council's attention. Residents of mobile home parks enjoy some of the most affordable housing in the region. However, they must qualify with the income uh to afford to live in the parks just like any other form of

rental housing. Mobile home owners are not poor. Nine of the city's 10 mobile home parks are all age parks with working families just like all other corona neighborhoods. They do not like it when it cost when costs increase whether it's gas, groceries, or rent. However, that does not mean they are low income and cannot afford possible increases. It is interesting to note that one of the options introduced in September uh on in September of uh 26 of 2024 RSG presentation was for the city to provide a fund to assist mobile home owners uh that would work with or uh complement our program. Um, in conclusion, it is not too late to focus only on those mobile home park residents who are truly in need of help. With that, thank you.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Um, nice to see you again. My name is Zabio Bullo. I represent La Corona Mobile Home Park and I've also lived at La Corona Mobile Home Park uh for several years. Um I've been coming to these meetings as long as I've known about them. Um and what I've seen is that you do have a few residents that are deeply impacted. So I know that your jobs are very hard, but you seem to have a few residents that are deeply impacted um dictating policy for the rest of the mobile home parks. And I also have concerns with RSG and the way that they did their study. Um, and really really concerned with the appeals process. Uh, RSG representative stated that if amenities lack, then residents would be then able to appeal for a rent reduction. So you want amenities and the park and the look and the staff to stay the same and not if not improved, but at the same time kind of handicapping our way to maintain those fees. As we spoke with the ad hoc committee, employees need to get paid, contractors need to get paid, everybody needs to get paid. So I do think that there is a way to meet a mutual understanding to where residents can be protected. Residents need to know what their rents are going to be. Residents need to know what the increases are going to be. And as far as letting you know what rent will be for the following year, uh if you heard the application process here mentioned a few times, it's clearly stated if anybody wants to live in my park right now, any of our parks, they get an application, the rent is there. You don't move in and then I say your rent is x much after you've already moved in. All of those things are pretty transparent. So, um I think you've heard from a lot of us and I know that your job is difficult, but I think that there is some middle ground to be reached to where you're protecting those that need protection. Uh at the same time, respecting that there's really good actors in this mobile home park that take pride in their private property and like to provide a service to the community. And as far as my

community is concerned, I haven't seen anybody from La Corona here. I haven't seen anybody even speak up or want something like this. My residents are very happy. Haven't said a peep. So, I heard somebody say they're scared. Uh, trust me, they are not scared. So, uh, I'll leave it at that to where I know your job is hard, but there has to be a balance between um, the people that operate this in good faith. It is their private property. It is our private property, and we do take pride in the way that we manage our parks. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome.

Good evening, Alicia Lumis from Countrywood Estates. I I have something written out and prepared for you, but I'd also like to just make a couple comments. The comments regarding the MOU are where was that 15 years ago and since I mean two years ago at Countrywood, we went around and tried to get them involved again. They asked me to go ahead and collect um me and Natalie. We actually went around and Susanna and a few others went around and got signatures from everybody. They asked us to present it to them. We presented it to them and they said, "We don't really want it. Email it." We emailed it. We got no response, nothing. But we did get a 9.6 increase. So, it's pretty hard to say that. Also, in regards to what was stated tonight, for real estate agents, I'm in that business and it's beneficial for real estate agents to be able to sell a home that has more money because they get a bigger commission for it. If the rents are so high, we're lowering our lowering our mobile home prices to sell, then they get decreased commission. Sorry. And then what I wanted to say is good evening. First, I'd like to thank you for your consideration and the work you have all put into this RSO. I'd like to ask you to reconsider allowing mobile home owners to raise the space rent to market value if or when we move. I wanted to share a few examples of how market value has affected some residents. One example is one of my old neighbors sold her house, but due to the space rent being at market value, they asked the sellers to decrease their sales price, and they did accept a lower price. Then the park owners gave them 27 pages of work to be done before they would accept the new resident. They ended up with a significantly lower amount, which they had counted on to help them move. The other example is my neighbor had her

grandchildren take over the title on their house and they increased her space rent by approximately $200 for the title change. They moved within a year because the space rent was too high. Then my new neighbors moved in and it went up another $200. So within four years it went up $400 back to back. I want to thank you for your consideration consideration of no increase for a title change. Um, this really will help the residents and I ask that you help your neighbors and please vote yes on this RSO. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome.

Hi, my name is Natalie and I've been a resident here in Corona since 1991. And I want to talk about the retirees and our seniors in our park. Um my family and I are concerned along with many other seniors in our park who are retired or going to be retiring within the next 3 to 5 years. We have quite a few that are already child retired and struggling as things stand now. We have one neighbor that is 93 years old and can no longer afford her space rent and another neighbor makes up for it for her. Our percentage will go up every year but our income does not. I feel that there is a need to address the retirees also in keeping it the annual increase affordable like tenants like myself. I have been a resident at the Corona at the Countrywood estate for 27 years. I have a disabled son I care for and keeping the percentage down to affordability will certainly help. I don't want to be removed from my home in my later years because I can no longer afford the space rent and put that responsibility on my children. We need to have a for affordable place that my children and I can both reside in. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. [Applause]

Good evening. Good evening.

Hello everyone. Mayor Bal Nunes, um Inland Empire Tenant Union, Inland Equity Comm Land Trust. Uh thank you so much staff uh the ad hoc committee. Um it's been long overdue. Um I know that there was mention about theou and the there's good actors and I think I think it was explained very well from uh Natalie and Alicia but it's funny how when you translate into Spanishou it said auo alternativo alternative agreement. So is is it really an agreement? Is it legal binding? So it was interesting the translation of what it was. So, um, I wanted to thank the committee. I think they had great ideas that were put together reflective of what the residents were asking, uh, you know, starting from 10% to 3%. Um, I think we want to continue pushing the 2% as we were talking about the average of social security because a lot of the mobile home park residents are seniors. I know that um, there was mention about this being Prop 13. This is not Prop 13. Um, so I did want to clarify that. And then the MET rental assistance, when you look at who qualifies, you really have to be low income. You would have to be ahead of household four people in a household earning no more than $48,750. So this doesn't this is not a program for everybody and a lot of people are family are moving together. Um if you look at the August 2025 press enterprise uh Inland Empire home buyer, um what's your income? $156,000 you have to make to be able to buy a home. So, mobile home parks is one of the last places to to buy a home and that's been growing 18% um the increases. Um I wanted to thank um the input about the uh the changing title to have the same percentage. Um I do ask when we're looking at the resell or the the vacancy deontrol to look at how

Riverides did theirs. They were going to look at 4% plus whatever the max amount was. That's what the staff uh Michelle Davis had drafted. Um the council, well, some of the council members went a different direction. Or look at Huba Valley. They look at the the top three most higher rent spaces. They average it out and then that's going to be the um the amount for the rent. Um because when you look at market rate, like who sets market rate, right? Who sets market rate? and it's really going to create a lot of difference of variation of rent spaces. So, we do want to make it simple and reduction of services, reduction of rent. I encourage you to look at San Jose's ordinance when we're looking at the homeowner petition. I think it makes sense the $5 uh to put in seed money. The residents want to not just ask for the city for help. They want to be on the driver's seat and contribute to this program. So, let's let's respect that. And I wanted to thank uh the one-time raise rent because not all parks do that and then the one-time fair return. Um and yeah, the 50% of resident vote for capital improvements. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Marbo. [Applause] All right.

Welcome. Susanna Lopez. My name is Susanna Lopez in Countrywood.

I live in Countrywood. [Music] I would like to ask for your help in order to stabilize the rents. I would like to talk to you about my situation. I'm going through a divorce process and I am paying $700 an hour for the services that I get.

Practically I'm a single mother. I have a child with autism. I've also suffered u domestic violence

and part of that uh domestic violence has been verbal abuse and financial abuse. Since 2023, I've been going through continuous stress.

Now that I am going through this divorce um proceedings, I find out that my husband didn't put me on the on the deed or on the contract. That's Norma Martinez. That's why Mrs. Norma Martinez, Patricia Martinez, Patricia Martinez,

they have been trying to evict me, evict me from the home since, uh, 2023. [Music] And for me, uh, they are harassing me. I have been compiling all these documents. since 2003 with all these U statements asking for uh repairs. So, I've been paying for them myself. I'm paying for all the services I get at home. And they're telling me that is it is me, the one that has to leave the home. Even I have a child with autism. If you help us to stabilize the rents, so you will help me a little with this big problem that I'm going through. Maybe you think that this is nothing has nothing to do with you. But I want you to understand that this house is not only a house, it's my home, my children's home, their roof on their heads. I've been going through panic since 2023. to being homeless. So my children would not have a roof over their heads. My children, one is 25 years old, the other 18.

But now I am the head of the household. But I want to ask you to please help us. Not only I have to pay for the repairs inside the home or the services for my children also the outside. They these people told me that if I would not feel these uh empty spaces or take away these remove these things from outside the home if I want to repair the walls. So I think that's also part of the abuse that I have to pay today. If you will help me with that, you will help me a lot because the rent stabilizing the rent will be one less problem for me. Please help us to allow me to give give a home to my children and also having a place for me and my children that I could afford.

Thank you very much. Gracias. Good evening.

Good evening. Um, my name is Kathy. I wasn't planning on speaking, so I might be a little bit nervous. Um, I'm just sitting here and listening to everything um, some of the representatives from the park owners are saying. Um, a lot of it is not true. I've been in a mobile home park for about six years now. Um, I know someone mentioned that they have to pay for maintenance and renovations. Um, I've been at Countrywood for 5 years, but a lot of people have been there for like 15 plus years, and we still have the same furniture in the clubhouse since the 70s. Um, somebody else said that the residents aren't here from their park because they're pretty happy. That's not true. Some managers do threaten residents if they attend these meetings. Um, we've also tried to resolve this without coming to the city a few years ago. um they didn't want to resolve anything or lower um rent. Um like Alicia mentioned, we have gotten almost a 9.6 rent increase one year. Um somebody else mentioned that it's pretty transparent. It's not the rent increases every year with a different percentage. So we don't know if it's going to be 2%, 10% or 5%. So it's not transparent at all. Um what else? Sorry. Um, somebody else mentioned that it's not for low income. It really is. If not, a lot of us wouldn't be in the parks dealing with the um, park owners BS like all the time. Um, but thank you for your time.

Thank you. All right. Seeing no more speakers, we have a couple on Zoom, right, Miss Edwards? They still there? Yes, Mayor. We have three speakers on Zoom. Okay, let's hear them. Hello. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Steiner. Council members, Bruce Stanton, corporate council for the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League. On behalf of our local members, we thank you for proceeding with this critical ordinance and its rent protections for vulnerable mobile home residents and joining over 100 local jurisdictions throughout California who have also done so. I've reviewed the ad hoc committee recommendations and based on my almost 40 years of experience in drafting and applying rent ordinances respectfully ask you to consider the following. With respect to annual rent increase limits, we urge you to adopt 75% of CPI indexing for annual rent increases rather than 100% as 75% is the predominant indexing for annual adjustments used in these ordinances throughout California. And we recommend a cap of 2% on annual adjustments. With respect to rent increases on turnover, allowing full vacancy deontrol, which really means unlimited rent increases on turnover, seriously damages homeowner equity because for every $100 the rent increases, equity decreases by $10,000. That's a paired analysis that the city of Hayward did many years ago that's been quoted in in the industry on both sides really as sort of a standard here. So protection of equity is a critical critical part of any such ordinance and we urge a partial control increase cap on turnover. Many ordinances use 5%. We would advocate for that or in no in any event no more than 10% and there's exceptions for eviction, foreclosure, abandonment. In those cases, it would you could allow for full deont control and transfer to lawful heirs, whether

they're not immediate family as this um recommendation defines should really be accepted so that inherences cannot be seriously damaged or lost. Um no mention about fair return standard in the recommendations but I want to indicate that establishing the standard to be used is very critical and we recommend using the maintenance of net operating income standard which is the objective and most widely accepted standard by courts and commentators and that formula would index the NOI at 75% of CPI between a base and current year to align with the annual adjustment percentage we're recommending and um indicate which expenses or income items are includable or excludable. Mortgage interest depreciation should be excluded for example and the park should always have the burden of proof. With respect to the review procedures that are recommended, we recommend that once staff initially um reviews and determines the petition is complete, it really should go to a hearing officer for review and decision because otherwise staff who's not well trained um is going to be dealing with a very complex fair return issue. And any decision without an evidentiary hearing where the residents could submit opposition evidence or testimony would almost guarantee that there's going to be an appeal. Um and 10 days to appeal is really too short. We recommend a longer period. Finally, um the petition fees, we would recommend that be borne by the park owner, not passed through or based on an aortionment, a percentage of the success. I'm I'm concerned that the word successful is not

Thank you, Mr. St. Your time is up, sir. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next on Zoom.

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go ahead.

My name is Julia. I'm a regional manager for the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League. I'm the recognized expert for RSOs. I work all across the state. And I want you to realize that when park owner after park owner comes up and says, "Get anou, there is a reason. One of the things that you're missing in this entire picture is how much profit are they making?" They're making a really good profit. They don't want to stop and they want to be able to control what it is they're making. They're talking about they offer rent assistance demand to see documentation of that through their program. They can withhold that assistance at any time and often they claim they're offering it but they're never really giving it out. The other idea is that there are some loopholes in what you have in front of you for the recommendations that allow the park owners to kind of go through back doors to increase the rent. You've heard about some of them, but um I wanted to talk about there should not be a petition fee for residents when they file for a a rent decrease or service decrease. It discourages the process for the residents of the park to even propose a petition. I also feel you need to be a little bit careful. You're allowing individuals in parks to submit reduction in rent for reduction in services petitions. Most places require it to be submitted by the park and they request that there be about at least a third of the residents signing saying yes, we want to see this petition go forward. The idea that uh the park owners are saying, you know what, if you pass this, there's going to be blight in the park

is simply not true. For one thing, the park owners don't want to devalue their property for resale. The park residents want the same thing. So, this is an idle threat that does not happen. I encourage you to really consider the request of the residents that have been there tonight that have braved coming in front of you to ask for a reasonable RSO. And remember that most of these park owners are at least millionaires that they almost all own other parks in communities with RSO. They know they'll still make a profit and they know they'll make a good profit. They rarely file petitions for fair return because it requires them to open their books and show what is their profit. Thank you all so much for being here for the work you've done on this. I really really appreciate it.

Thank you. And Miss Edwards, one more. Yes, Mayor. There's one more speaker. Go ahead if you can hear me. Hello. Hello. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, my name is Chris Chapman. I'm an attorney. I represent park owners. I sent a letter um to the council yesterday. I'm not sure if any of you had the time to read it. Um, but I operate in this space and I do a lot of fair return proceedings and I've been opposite of Mr. Stanton who spoke a few moments ago um as well as Miss Clark who's before you with RSG. Um so this is what I do on a daily basis and admittedly if you pass this ordinance it'll actually be good for my business. Um but I think you should reconsider passing it for the reasons that you've heard from the park owner Smith Paulie and everyone else. Um but I just wanted to get to your attention on on some issues some constitutional issues that I've identified in your slides. I know we don't have a draft ordinance yet. Um, but in my letter, um, I'd ask that the city attorney and, anyone else that's drafting this ordinance, um, please look at my letter before you put pen to paper. Um, because there are some issues with the proposed terms. For example, as to capital improvements, um, case law in California is very clear that not only is the park owner entitled to dollar fordoll reimbursement, he's he or she is also entitled to interest on the capital improvement. So, that's just one area identified. And then additionally, the issue about fees, the petition fees, you're proposing 25,000 for a um a fair return or 12,000 for a cap capital improvement fair return. Um those seem very excessive. In my letter, I detailed constitutional issues about the fees to be reasonably related to the cost of administrative um the administrative task of of this this process. And in my experience, um, very few ordinances around this state, um, have any type of petition fee because there's case law saying if you deter, um, a park owner from applying, similar to what Miss Moher talked you about earlier about deterring a a uh, homeowner from

applying for a service reduction. Um, that can chill the park owner's constitutional right to apply for a fair return, and that's not what you're supposed to do. Um the owners are not entitled to a fair term. They're entitled to apply. And by charging such excessive fees considering the amount of space fees you're going to be charging um the park owners and the residents um those space fees should more than cover um any petition fees um uh with respect to fair returns. Um, and I'd also like to tell you, um, um, be careful what you wish for with passing this ordinance because it's going to invite institutional investors to buy these parks and submit fair returns for property tax increases and which will result in poor service to these um, these homeowners that are dealing with these mom and pop owners that have been doing a very good job. Um, and one more thing, please provide one more an additional time between the um, publication of the ordinance and the first reading so attorneys like me can look at it and give you our feedback. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Chapman. All right. Nobody else, right, Sylvia? There are no more speakers there. All right. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Why don't the ad hoc committee go ahead and uh, report out first and we'll go from there. Jackie or Wes? You want to go first?

Sure, Wes. I will go first. So, I I have some thank yous, some comments, and then um I want to talk about the ad hoc work. Um, first I want to thank everyone who's invested so much time, so much time over the last several years in attending meetings, in providing comments, in providing tours, in scheduling meetings, in writing emails. I mean, I've heard from you. You thanked us, but also you've all been very invested in the process, and that doesn't um that's it's it's just been really helpful to hear from you. Um it takes a lot of courage as well to come and speak. Um even if you're used to it, public speaking is one of those um biggest fears that people have. Um, and it takes a whole lot of courage to come to the mic, to do so on a a meeting that's being streamed, um, to be vulnerable and to share your personal story. Susanna, in particular, it is it is valu Thank you for sharing. Um, I also know that this is exhausting. I know that while this council has only been working on this issue since 2022, some of you have been involved in this for over a decade and it's exhausting. I can tell people are worn out. Everyone's worn out and we want resolutions. So anyway, I thank you all for for the phone calls, for for the education, for staying engaged, for coming to the meetings, for providing your input. I I this is what democracy in action looks like and I really appreciate it.

I want to share some comments and then I want to talk about the work that was done in the ad hoc. Um I I want to talk a little bit about um the theme of threats. Um but I want to start first with a misnomer. Um which speaks to the power dynamic that we're seeing. There's a very subtle but telling baseline of the power structure here. We talk about mobile home owners who own their mobile homes. They're often talked about as residents. And we talk about mobile home park representatives and lobbyists as park owners. I want you I want you to really recognize that um there are some local owners, but who we are hearing from are representatives of park owners. Um, I did get some direct communication from local owners and I am telling you that in the sausage making process which I'll speak about in a minute. Um, I was very conscious, we were very conscious of compromise and finding ways to make a policy specific to Corona that would not be punitive to local owners. But I really do need you to recognize the way we talk about this subject and how that in and of itself is unfair. Um, I want to mention that this talking point about residents not understanding theou is very patronizing. Very patronizing. This is complicated. Yes. But we have covered this issue and we've discussed

it. You might not like the answer, but the process has been solid. And what we heard back was that residents did not want anouou. And truly, at least what was most convincing to me is past behavior is indicative of future behavior. And forgive me if I don't believe that anou is going to solve this because agreements in the past have not been honored. They haven't. And we wouldn't be here as a council had the previous attempts by previous councils been upheld. So theou was thoroughly discussed, covered, and comments were accepted. And I understand why you're throwing the the Hail Mary for it, but please don't patronize that it was misunderstood. And I want to say that what I have seen over the last several days and months is really just threats upon threats upon threats upon threats. That's that's what I'm hearing. Rental assistance is going to end. This is only the beginning. Your support networks are going to leave you high and dry. I mean, I I don't know how many emails I got. I'm going to remember your name next time and I'm not voting for you. These are people responding to misleading mailers, purposely misleading mailers. And I will tell you, I don't scare easily. and these threats. What it shows me what it shows me is that when you can't

stick to the process and be um a fair and equal uh partner, then you're resorting to your last tactics. But I got an email. I got an email from from one of the several emails I got that was not an auto email was from a gentleman that said, uh, you need to focus on Corona residents and not the outside people. And I said, you got it backwards. You got it backwards, man. It's the Corona residents that are asking us for oursel for the help. It's the Corona residents. And the mailer that you received that came in from the outside. and what we're talking about. So then his and I'm glad he replied. He's like, "Oh, I didn't I didn't know that." And I was like, "Yep. I mean, who do you think has the money and the power here?" But anyway, the threats, the threats, the threats. That is not a good look. Okay. So, those are my comments. Those are my thank yous. I want to go to the ad hoc work. I take it seriously that my colleagues entrusted me to go into and be part of this ad hoc. And I think it was very intentional to position myself and council member speak. In fact, I think we like self-nominated. We're like, put us on um because, you know, we both like long meetings and um we're going to read it all and we're into the sausage making process and and and we don't agree. So, so put the two of us together on this ad hoc. Um we listened. We had a process of public participation. We looked at outside uh best practices. We um looked at every single element within this policy. Listen um you hear about other cities, you hear about uh other suggestions and the reality is that we

are building a policy for Corona. Okay? It's for us. It's not what did a city over here do? What did a city over there do? Let's copy paste because our communities are different. And the goal, my goal and I think my colleagues goal here is whatever policy we come up with needs to have Corona and Corona residents and our our interest here and I'm and and park owners. Can we how can we build a policy that can be um as inexpensive to implement and provides the protections that have been missing because it serves no one if we create such a convoluted um policy that it then requires to go outside every year or requires um very burdensome calculations or multiple layers to the calculations. So that's why, you know, some might say that when no one's happy, you've reached a a compromise. When you have people that are saying, "I don't really love this part." And then the other side says, "I don't really love this part." Then you say, "Hey, there's no one person that's walking away as the as the clear clear winner, then we've probably have struck a balance." So I want to say to my colleagues that um you know Wes and I you know are uh uh um deliberative um and I believe that we have found a good compromise here. I stand with the process um that has taken a very long time but I stand with the process and I stand with the recommendations of the ad hoc committee. I also recognize that like any new policy like the cannabis policy that we built a couple years

back, we're going to learn some things in these first few years and there might be some revisions, but this is a really good place to start for Corona. It provides the protections. It does so as at the lowest cost that we can possibly figure. It keeps things in house and um and I believe it's a good place to start. So, I stand with it. Thank you. Thank you, Wes. Do you want to?

Uh, yes. Thank you. Thank you. I'll um you know, almost 10 years ago, I I sat in the back and sat next and and heared all the heard all the horror stories of folks that were being abused by a bad actor. And frankly, I didn't know that much about Moan Parks. I I I you know, I had a friend that lived in one and she seemed to really enjoy. In fact, I was quite bummed when she had to sell and move move to another location. Um but in this process, I've learned a lot and I've learned that that um all the mobile home parks aren't the same. And you know when you know we went the first time we talked about this um I really advocated for an MLOU and I you know made my case and my colleague you know swayed the the rest of the council to her uh to to the way and I I was perfectly happy to to sit down and try and find the best compromise and and I think that uh council or Vice Mayor Casillas is very uh you know spot on the fact that we are very very different from each other. We spend a lot of time together in very many different ways and we know a lot about each other and we know a lot um how to push each other in certain ways as well. Um, but I came at this from in the beginning from a place of trying to help the residents, trying to to make sure that they had a consistent, measurable, predictable rent increase. So, you would see something, it would be a consistent number and not be up and down. So, one of the reasons I opposed um an RSO was the fair rate of return that that can be really a crapshoot. You could see a increase, you know, large increase one

year, you could see no increase for two years. And so we were very purposeful in trying to find a um a happy medium on CPI that would allow for a fair rate of return um without having to trigger that which is one of the reasons I pushed for anou because we wouldn't the mobile home park owners were willing to give that up that that uh that legal right to be able to do that. Um but you know here here we are. we're moving forward with with uh at least looking at the the ideas. I want to address a couple things. One, um Mr. Morgan mentioned about vacancy deont control. That's something that was mentioned at the very beginning that that was a concern. There is vacancy deontrol right now. There's no big push to push people out. We um we didn't find we looked pretty hard for evictions for um you know, other things that just didn't exist. So, I don't feel that that's going to be um you know, something that's going to be used against the residents. Um I the one of the reasons I I really advocated for a dual a dual purpose and an RSO for the folks that that frankly don't want to be good actors and we all know who they are. Um and I I I think that that that bad actor has no problem accepting an RSO because they'll work the system. And I think sadly that if we go down this path that the folks that are in that park or in those two parks or that person owns, they're going to see increases and they're going to come back and be really upset with us that that we couldn't provide something that was predictable to them. Um so but I feel I feel bad for the folks at u at Flamingo. Um their owner is a you know really great owner. They're they own one park. they've kept their their rates low and frankly, you know,

they've indicated that they won't be able to do the process that they won't be able to come up with $12,000 to to or you know, whatever the amount is to go forward. So, they're going to sell, which means that that group will the group there that that's a low-inccome park will end up getting hit with the additional fees. Um, so I I there'll be unintended consequences from all this and I I hope that you know if if this goes forward that that they those don't happen. Um, I don't think I think there are some threats. I I do think that there are some threats, but I do think there are some reality and I feel like we're hitting, you know, everybody with the same hammer. Um, lastly, the I know there was mentioned a couple times about the state law judge. We the ad hoc committee looked into that. It is a massive amount. It is it is a it's not free. I don't know who who told you it was free, but it's not a free thing. It's very expensive. Um and uh I I was very surprised at the numbers at, you know, $24,000 and half of that being shared by the mobile home parks um and the other half by the residents that I I I'm I'm nervous. I'm nervous for this. I still think that theou is the is and an RSO is the way to go doing both. But uh I realized that that we I was not in not on the positive side of that and I'd want to make one last um one last motion to at least have to come back and try this. But I I realize that I need support from my colleagues for that. Um, as for my my other my thank yous, I want to thank all the people that came out. Um, all the folks from all the parks. I talked to so many people from so many different parks, including folks at at Flamingo at at Via

Corona. Um, and you know, thank you for the tours and seeing what a wonderful um facility that that we saw. I think two of them in very good detail and showing, you know, what great job that uh that the uh park management was doing at those. And we also saw I I toured the other ones on my own, drove through some of them and I saw some of the conditioned issues that that was being told um by the the residents themselves. I um I I want to thank everybody that that sat with us on those long long meetings uh several of them and including the folks from Country uh Countrywood. I you guys shared some very specific and specific issues that that have occurred in your park and and uh and how those affected you personally. Um but like I said, I'm I'm still nervous about the uh the fees are really high. Um I wish there was a way for it to um to come down, but I I I don't think that this is going to solve our problem. Um, I think if there was a way to do both, uh, I I would want to make that motion for us to consider it one more time. Um, and I'll see if any of my colleagues have, uh, if I can get a second for that.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Tony. Anything? Thank you, Mayor. I have I have some questions that I wasn't clear on. Um, the fair return petition, what does that process look like? like who is hearing that petition and who makes the determination? It wasn't really clear in the presentation. So, I was curious as to what that process looked like. I don't know if that's an RSG question or Yeah. would you like me to answer, please?

Okay. So, RSG processes um fair return petitions. I personally have processed about 30. So basically what you do is you ask the park owner because they're saying we didn't get a fair return in xy year. So they give us their income and expense documentation for that year and then we have to go through all of their expenses and confirm that they provide proof of payment and make sure that their math adds up. And then we also have to make sure there's no expenses that we need to take out. So, for example, mortgage interest was mentioned by somebody earlier, late fees, they might throw some capital improvements in there, which we don't want in there because that leads to a permanent rent increase, and that should be pulled out for a temporary rent increase. So, we have to basically go through all of their expenses for that year, and you're coming in looking at someone else's business, you're going to have a lot of questions. So, there's a bit of back and forth with the park owner about the expenses.

But, is that done by staff or is that done by RSG? It can be done by staff, but I think the recommendation of the ad hoc committee is to rely on consultants to do it. Okay. And then on the capital improvement, why is it why are they why are we recommending that it's reimbursed by the residents after their after their 51% have approved that capital improvement? Why? That's a write-off for the park owners. So why why are we asking it to be reimbursed by the residents? Why are we asking for the capital improvement to be reimbursed?

Because the CPI rent increase wouldn't be high enough to cover expenses that are like $25,000 $100,000. Like if somebody put in a pool, the CPI rent increase isn't high enough to reimburse them for that. But it's a write off though. I mean, that's that's a capital improvement expense to their to their to their business. So, why are we asking for the residents to reimburse them for the cost of that capital improvement when they're going to be able to write that off at the end of the year?

I can't speak to the t tax implications because I'm not a tax attorney, but it's just a matter of there. How else would they get reimbursed for the expense they paid other than the residents reimbursing them? Okay, I might not be the best person to answer that question.

Okay. Um, and then I have a a couple legal questions too. And I and I don't know if that's a RSG or if that's Dean, but in regards to the vacancy deontrol, um, I'm also concerned that that could lead to, uh, you know, a tenant being forced out, so to speak. And so I'm kind of curious in any other municipalities or have we seen is there a very clear process with which if I'm a if I'm a park resident and I feel as if I'm being forced out because they've identified that maybe they can get more money. Is there a very clear process with which as a resident I have a way to notify the right person that I feel like I'm being forced out?

I would say there's two things. One that that there is vacancy de control now and we didn't find any evidence that anybody was being forced out. two, they're um we live in California, so if you're you're evicted, there's a court process and it has to go through a court. It's not something that you can just go, you know, you put a three-day notice and everybody leaves. It's it's uh you know, we're in California and we we did ask a a fair a fair amount of questions about that and couldn't find you know, any I think or there was like maybe one that when it was basically somebody just didn't pay. Um, but there wasn't anybody that got kicked out for, you know, not painting their curb or anything like that. That that that would have to go to a court of law. So that this is not a, you know, we were in a different place. I would say that would be an issue. But again, we currently have that and that that's not an issue.

But forgive me, your point is well taken, Tony, because yes, we currently have that, but the rules of play are different. So the rules of play change that could also change what the current situation is. So you are not wrong for questioning what could happen when vacancy deont control is in place during a rent stabilization.

And we will have protective information, protective measures in the ordinance to try to police that or sus that out. There's also a state arms budsman that's uh designed to help with those kind of or violations of the mobile home residency law as well. So there's different avenues, but we are aware of that issue. We're concerned about that issue and we'll be looking for that issue. So we'll be okay building language.

I don't know if the if the RSO purposely or is suggesting that the city is the watchdog for that if there's already state protections for folks. It just and it and it may have just been, you know, speculative or conjecture, but you know, a lot of folks said, well, when they realized that they could get more rent, then all of the sudden, you know, I was getting

fines in the mail for not having a a fence that was painted or, you know, I had, you know, a bird fountain that I wasn't supposed to, you know, something along those lines. It's just if there's a feeling from residents that they're being forced out, I want there to be a clear path for them to have some recourse to say, "Hey, wait a minute. You know, this isn't this doesn't seem right." But I I feel like if the city's trying to police that that that's not our our focus. I think that there's maybe state anyway I just want there to be a clear recourse for anybody that has that feeling that they can go through a process that says hey this is right or this is wrong this is wrong type of thing.

There is a process Tony but it also unfortunately um like as referenced about you know there's a legal process like all of that requires like legal assistance and we know what that looks like right for folks who are so is it real what's the barrier for that but you're not wrong for having that concern. Yeah. And then um Dean, you know, we've gone through a lot of work to, you know, put forth this RSO and and part of the challenge is that the state really doesn't recognize that mobile home, maybe I'm speaking wrong, but the state doesn't really recognize that mobile homes are part of a lower income spectrum, if you will. So, you know, it was interesting to hear that. Was it?

It's not always. It's not.

It was interesting to hear that, you know, uh, the representative from, you know, Sabrina Cervantes' office is, you know, hosting a workshop this weekend. And it's almost like, well, where the hell have you been for the last couple of years, but should the state take up this mantle of adding mobile home parks into some sort of ordinance, that would supersede anything that we have going on. Is that correct? Well, I think that would depend upon the legislation. I mean, we're speculating what that legislation might be. They could uh legislate and try to occupy the field and take local agencies out of it. I kind of doubt that they would do that, but it's possible.

Okay. Can't speculate on a future legislative item that could go either way. I I I know that we can't speculate on it, but there's there's a possibility that should the state decide to take up this mantle that whatever we have done, if we do something, could be superseded. It's possible. Okay, that's possible.

All right. So, um thank you. I wanted to make sure I got clarification on that. I I it was very interesting to me. I I also got um several mailers from the MH, although it didn't say it was didn't specific that it was from the MH, but when you went on to the website, that's when you found out that it was. And I'm curious, you guys are here now. What you know, you're saying that um anou would be so much better and that you feel like the residents didn't understand it. Why didn't you spend those thousands of dollars that you spent on those flyers providing, you know, misinformation to educate people on theou? You said that that theou they that it wasn't they weren't educated on it, but you chose not to educate them. You chose to to run a dis disinformation campaign and seems to me like you're talking out of both sides of your mouth there. I I didn't quite understand that. And as far as the park owners, you you didn't need the city to do anou for years. You don't need the city to do an MOU. You could have done that with your residents all on your own. So why is it now that you're pushing for anou when you could have done that years ago and saved all of this? I I don't understand um why they didn't do that. So to me it seems like we wouldn't have even been here had you guys stepped up and done anou with your residents at your parks years ago. Am I am I wrong to think that? I mean, I'm not exactly certain why now you're saying that you want anouou when you could have had anou for decades, but you chose not to. So, here we are. Um, I'm, you know, I'm I want the best for everybody in our in our community. That's not just the residents, but the businesses as well. So, here we are taking a stab at an RSO. So, it'll be interesting to see where

this ends up. But those are those are the questions that I had. Thank you for answering them. And um good job making nobody happy. I think that that's probably as close as we're going to get. Um and and I do want to say to the residents of the mobile home parks, we we had an ad hoc um process and I've sat through that myself as well. So I understand a little bit about it and nobody is going to be happy. And I think two years ago I said something along the same lines. We're not going to make everybody happy through this process. So, as much as I'm as much as I'm going to chastise the mobile home parks, I I have a little bit for you as well. I mean, our res our our council members, you know, sat through many hours of an ad hoc. They made recommendations and you're still coming up asking for a difference in in what the the ad hoc is recommending. And it's like, you know, guys, come on. We're trying here, but nobody is going to be happy. And here you are saying, you know, oh, we'd rather have a 2%. Well, I'd rather not have to deal with this. I'd rather the mobile home parks had anou in place 10 or 15 years ago, but here we are. So, as much as I'm not happy with the mobile home parks for running their disinformation campaign and asking for anou, even though they could have had anou 10 or 15 years ago, but they chose not to. I'm also not happy that you guys are coming up asking for 2% when 3% is on the board. Like, nobody's going to be happy, but this is where we're at. So, thank you very much,

Tom. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I uh I I have I have a couple questions and and also comments. And uh I was worried about deontrol and Wes, I appreciate your answer to it. I also like Jackie's answer in a way where it said you can pass a rent stabilization ordinance and then you're not going to get it right straight out of the gate. There might need to be some tweaks and adjustments and along the way, but you recognize and do those tweaks and adjustments along the way. And I don't think there's a council member up here that wants to discourage a business from making money. I own a business. I want to make money. I also don't want to rip off my customers and I want to be honest with my customers. So, let me let me give you a glimpse of what a council member life has been like for the last week. Starting last week, I started to get emails and it was because Corona citizens had been getting misleading flyers in the mail. All of Corona citizens were getting flyers that were misleading in the mail. And I did the same thing as Tony. I went on to the website and there it was. Mh. I've declined every one of their elaborate Christmas party v invitations over the years, but uh there they are. Misleading. Misleading. People I've known for 20, 30 years were emailing me and telling me how horrible it is that you're into a rent table or ordinance that knew nothing about a rent stabilization ordinance until they got your flyers. And then you go on their your website and look at your flyers and they're wrong. You sit in this audience tonight and support these flyers. You talk nothing about these flyers. You

know who talked about the flyers? Maddie talked about the flyers. She brought them up. She showed them on the screens. The screens that she can't see, by the way. But uh she brought those flyers forward. Not one of you. Not one of you did. Not one of you owners or representatives talked about those flyers. Not one of you condemned those flyers. You riled up citizens that you shouldn't have riled up. And why? To protect profit margins to to protect adversarial hunting down the people that you're supposed to serve and make money off of. That's that's why you did these flyers. Let me tell you about the life of a council member. Yesterday, not one law firm, two law firms sent emails to every council member saying, "Hey, the mobile home industry has retained us to to fight against your rent stabilization ordinance." Two law firms, one of them spoke today. I don't know where the other one is. They said they were going to be here. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. It doesn't matter. I got another email as the life of a council member today from I think it's your lobbyist. Is it Pauline? Paulie, Paulie, Jennifer, Pauly, Julie, sorry, I don't mean to murder your name. Julie, thank you. Saying, "Oh, yeah. We've talked to everybody in the industry. They uh they think you suck because you want to protect your citizens with the rent stabilization ordinance, and here's a list of everybody that now hates you from the industry." So, that that was today's email, and I I didn't get it. And some of the people that signed on to that flyer really shocked me because they were here not too long ago begging to have a relationship with the city. So, uh, you guys did it. You riled up the citizens. Congratulations. You sent

misleading information. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I uh [Applause] I I want what's fair. I actually want you guys to make business. I make profit. I want the homeowners to be able to buy a a house and not see a 10% raise or see a 9% raise. I I agree with Council Member Dario. I think a lot of these agreements, you're not going to have people happy on both sides. And that probably is where you get a good deal. I a couple months ago I got a phone call from one of the mobile home park owners and out of respect I won't mention his name because he he was a nice guy. He spoke nicely and he said, "Hey, if you pass this rent stabilization ordinance, first thing that we're going to have to do is cut back services." That's what he said, right? That makes sense to you guys. You have to cut back cut back services. What did you do?

I uh I said, "Why don't you cut back profits? Why not cut back profit margins? Why isn't that the first thing you do?" As a business owner, when times get tough, I cut back my profit margins. I don't have a hard time with it. I bid jobs sometimes at cost just so that my guys can keep working, right? I protect my organization. I protect my business. It's not always about money. It's about the environment that you create and the environment that you foster. Good business is long-term business. Good business is when your people are happy. When you can serve your citizens, when you can serve your customers, in your case, your homeowners. When you can serve them and provide a win-win environment. You guys gave up on win-win environments. Well, actually, you didn't. You want both wins. They get the loss. So, um I'm uh I did hear some things that alarm me. Then the lawyers emailed one of them I think was a 30page document and they made some things that might need some more exploring by our legal department. So, uh I do want things to be fair and legal. So, we may need to do some more exploring on that. I uh I do wonder to be fair to you guys if anou wasn't properly vetted. I I I have to be fair there and wonder if that if anou wasn't properly vetted. I'm not I'm not convinced on anou. I I believe especially after your tactics of this last week. Right. I have strong suspicions that you guys say, "Hey, let's do anou, we'll set it for 5 years, and then most of you, if not all of you, will be out of city council by then, and we'll just go back to our old ways." Those are my suspicions with an MLOU. I'm just saying

it publicly. I I really believe you have, especially after watching last week, this last week, I believe you have the capacity in you to pull that maneuver off. and it bothers me and I still don't know that anou has been thoroughly vetted. So, I'll give you that. And I'm just speaking honestly and plainly. I uh I did have one question for the RSG person. Um if a rent and it's probably I just missed it. You probably covered it. Is there a base year rate set? So like if French rent stabiliz if rent stabilization ordinance started off next year, could they then set rents for whatever they want before that rent stabilization ordinance started and that's your set year?

Let me know if I misunderstood your question, but I think the answer is 2025 would be the base. So because it's the last year before rent stabilization takes effect. So, are you thinking about in the context of a fair return petition or for the CPI rent increases? I'm as of right now, this very second, there is no rate rate rent stabilization ordinance. Sorry. So, could they say, "Hey, January 1st, we're bumping everybody up 30% because we can do that."

Okay. No. No. So the timeline that we have that the ad hoc committee has in mind is that starting April 1st, basically starting January 1st, they cannot send out a rent increase notice that is above what the ordinance would say. So a better way of saying that is starting April 1st, all rent increases must comply with the ordinance. The reason why we're saying April 1st and not January 1st is because they have to give 90day notice. I'm with you there. And I got that because of the 90day thing. Right. Right. Just to play devil's advocate. Sure. They December 31st just say we raised everybody up because we can.

I see what you're saying. They could. You're right. They could if they wanted to increase someone's rent and send out a rent increase notice in November, like November 1st, and that would take effect in February. You're right. They do have a short window where they could increase the rents before the rent stabilization ordinance takes effect. Okay. Thank you for answering that. Sure. Um, Mayor, those are my concerns. That's my comments and questions and I turn the time over to you.

All right. Council member Richens, if I can just briefly address your question about the letters. We're not concerned about any of the issues that were raised in that letter. Uh there's really only one constitutional issue and that's uh we had intended to address that not necessarily in these slides but we'll address it uh either in the ordinance or more likely in the implementing policy. So thank you. We're not concerned about what is stated in any of the letters. Thank you.

Thanks Dean. I was going to ask that as well. So, I'm I'm really conflicted in the sense that um I'm not normally someone who's going to tell a business owner what they can charge somebody. And I think that's generally smart. But when it comes to mobile home parks, it's simply different. And you know the um if you live in an apartment or you live in a house or rent a house or rent an apartment and the landlord raises your your rent then you have the ability to pick up your couch and pick up your refrigerator and go find an apartment. That's cheaper. But when you live in a mobile home park it's very difficult to just pick up your home and move it. And it's not cheap. And for the most part, if they had money, they probably wouldn't be living in a mobile home park. For many, not all. Um, I I think that um we need to do something and that the struggle has been finding that that sweet spot. I think that doing something to ensure that our mobile home park residents don't get prayed upon by a landlord who is unethical and has ulterior motives with that person or that entire park. Um I think we need to help him. And I also believe that it does align with our homeless strategic plan. We've worked so hard to um house some of our homeless and to prevent others from becoming homeless and I think this this lines up with that to do something to help our mobile home park residents. There was um there was that that chart that was shown had the last seven years of increases and the average was 4.2 2 over the last seven years according to that chart and according to my math. Um so versus the 3 point the 3% that the ad

hoc is recommending versus the 2% that the homeowners want. Um I don't want parks to turn into blight. Some of them already are already blighted for sure, but I don't want that to happen. I I also don't want to punish the good landlords, right? Because there are some good ones. So you know I wonder if the 3% is right or it should be a little bit more to ensure that both sides are being taken care of. There are some concerns I have with with the you know what if the what if the this RSO takes place and the park owners sell? What does that mean? I mean I I guess we're going to find out but I hope it doesn't I hope it doesn't come to fruition. I appreciate very much um what our ad hoc committee did and I know that I know that both sides uh gave in on some things and I appreciate that. That's what's supposed to happen. I had a question for Dean. Um a lot of the people Yeah. were yelling at us over the last week because they thought we were talking about homes and apartments and we've never ever even mentioned that we were considering doing that and we're not. So, what I was going to ask Dean is um attached to this, can we add some sort of a resolution that states that we will not pursue an RSO for apartments or residential homes?

Yeah, you're free to to direct that motion. Sure. Okay. Um, so there's a lot more I guess I could say, but I'm not going to. Um, I'm good with the ad hoc committee's recommendation. I do believe that it will be tweaked over time, just like most of these things. Um, but I would like to see a resolution attached to it because I have no desire to seek uh any sort of rent stabilization for apartments or residential homes.

Thank you for clearing that up, mayor. I meant to say that same thing and you did it that it's not going after apartments or homes. That was never intended in any of these meetings, nor was it ever discussed in any meetings. Right. It was misleading for sure. So, um, with that, I will make the motion to accept the ad hoc committee's recommendation with a resolution in place stating that we have no intention or we will not seek uh rent control or rent stabilization for apartments or residential homes. I'm okay with that. I second that motion. Okay. So, let's get back to the voting screen.

And then I think on the floor is uh council member speaks motion. Was it acknowledged or ever seconded? Uh, well, it wasn't. It was made before everybody spoke. So, um, my motion's in place now. So, please vote. And for those of you who can't see the screen, it was approved 4 to one with Councilman Speak Na.

All right. Now, let's get back to the agenda and try to blast this out here. Okay. So, we have our um consent calendar. Mr. Mayor, yes. Can I just get a clarification on what you just added on to that? Yeah, Bobby, what what's up? Is that also for commercial? If you own multiple commercial units, your your idea is this is just going to be for the mobile home park industry, right? What happens when all of you leave? And this is a question more for Dean. You know, I see what councils do. God bless you guys, but you're not going to be here forever. So, can future councils override what was just done?

I believe they can. Right, Dean? Yeah, any council can do anything. Thank you. All right. All right, let's get back to our agenda. All right, this should go much faster now, you guys. As soon as I can find my

Okay, consent calendar. All items listed on the consent calendar are considered to be routine matters, status reports, or documents covering previous city council action. The items listed on the consent calendar may be enacted in one motion with the concerns of the city council. With the concurrence of the city council, a council member or any person intents may request that an item be removed for further consideration. Would my colleagues like to pull any items for discussion?

Um 6.8. I just wanted to because I didn't see anything in there about um whether or not I just wanted to confirm we're not or if we are have uh if we're closing the library at any any any point but I can not that I know at this point Donna are we closing the library at any point for this we do not have any plans to close the library. So we have um worked with the contractor to make sure that the work will be done um any loud or noisy work would be done either before or after operating hours and then the bulk of the work will occur during the normal operating hours. Okay, great. Yeah, then no items, sir.

Okay, Miss Edwards, anybody from the public want to pull any item? Mayor, we did not receive any speaker cards for the consent calendar. Thank you. Can I get a motion on the consent calendar? Jackie, did you want to vote on our consent calendar motion? Um, yes.

All right. And that passes 50. Um, moving to public hearings. Okay. 8.1. So, a public hearing and election for annexation number 44 into community facilities district number 2016-3 maintenance services. Does any council member want a staff report on this item? Seeing none, the public hearing is now open. The following questions are for Miss Edwards. Do you have proof of publication mailing of the notice of the public hearing?

Yes, I do. Have any written protests been received? No, I have not received any written protest. Are there any registered voters within the area to be annexed to the CFD? And if so, how many? There are no registered voters. Have the owners of all taxable property proposed to be annexed to the CFD agreed to hold the special election on October 15, 2025? Yes, they have. Do you agree to hold the special election on October 15th, 2025? Yes, I do. Is there anyone here tonight that would like to comment or ask questions regarding this item? Seeing none, the public hearing is now closed. This motion or this this will this item will require two motions. So, do we have a motion? I'll make a motion. Is there a second?

Tom and Tony, please vote. Can the others vote? Yeah, they can vote, too. Tom and Tony seconded. I should have said that. Okay. And then we Miss Edwards, have you received any or I guess I should make sure it passes first time. Mayor, it did show up on the screen. The item did pass 5 to 0. Thank you. Miss Edwards, have you received any ballots and have canvased the ballots and tallied the results? Yes, I have received one ballot and all votes are cast in favor of loving the special taxes. Thank you. Do I have a motion? Make the motion. Second.

Tom and Jackie made the motions. Vote. Okay, that is approved. 50. We already did 9.1, so we'll go to 9.2. Fiscal year 2026 phase 2 community events co-sponsorship program request. Karen Lee, recreation supervisor, will present this item. Karen, Mr. Mayor, I think I might have to step out on this one because uh one of the organizations I'm involved with is in the uh in the Okay. queue. Sounds good. All right, Miss Karen Lee, it's all yours. Sorry to keep you so long.

No worries. My honor to be here tonight. I'm very excited to present on the co uh co-sponsorship program request for the phase two. Oh, here we go. All right. So the ask is to ask the city council to approve fiscal year 26 phase 2 of the co-sponsorship program for events occurring January through June 2026. Uh some background about the co-sponsorship program. This is a very important program to the city and for what the city offers. It is heavily relied on by local community nonprofit organizations and it is intended to facilitate events offered by nonprofit community members to the general public. It provides a one-time award in the form of a fee waiver in kind assistance such as it can offset city fees or cost city services incurred by requester. uh we presented last April on phase one for the fiscical year 26 uh co-sponsorship program and the council approved phase one uh requests. So I am here to present to you the phase 2 requests that um when these organizations submitted applications in July and August and I am here to show you those events. But before I do that, uh the criteria that they must meet, uh they must be in Corona nonprofit or government agency. They must uh promote Corona as a desirable place to live, visit, and do business. Cor uh promote Corona as a destination and encourage tourism having those events open to the public. enhance the quality of life and well-being, advance pride in multicultural community, encourage neighborhood pride and identity, and the cultural autistic wellness.

In phase one, these were the events approved by city council that we are currently um rolling out right now and um they have been successful so far. But this was a total of $9,123 of fee waves of fees waved uh for these events to hold their event of fees waved for them to hold their events in Corona. I am presenting to you phase two. These are the events we are requesting council's approval. Um we have grown again. So, this is uh very um exciting for the special events team to be able to roll out more events and help these uh nonprofit organizations. But there are two worth pointing out that we have new coming in 2026 if council approves and that is Ability Avengers and put on by a rise organization at the CCC. And the Circle City Corral would like to bring a spring concert to the theater in June. And so the total for the fiscal year 26 for nonprofits uh using the co-sponsorship program comes to $27,923. And these again are fees waved um or inind donations. And so keeping it sweet here, I am asking the council to approve fiscal year 26 phase 2 of the co-sponsorship program for the events that occur January through 2026 wrapping up that fiscal year. questions, comments, concerns.

You can speak here anytime, Karen, with that brief presentation. Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public regarding this? Mayor, we do not have any speaker cards. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Tony, go ahead. Yes. Can you please go back to the list? This has been bothering me for a very long time. Is it Circle City Corral or Coral? Council member Dario, I say corral. Is it caramel or caramel? I don't know, but this has been bothering me for years and I would like to know if it's coral or corral. I will get back to you. Thank you.

Is there any other ridiculous comments from my colleagues? Take exception to that. Maybe

I I I want to make a comment real quick. Um I just want to uh just I just want to commend this program that we have in the city. The city and the events team, while incredible and wonderful, can't do it all. And this is one of the tools that we have as a city to help uh the nonprofit organizations in our community uh to be innovative and and put on things that, you know, benefit our residents. And so, um I I see this as a really cool tool and um I'm happy to see it being used. Thank you. And thriving.

All right, go back to the screen. Can I get a motion? A second. Tony and then Jackie. Thank you. Thanks, Karen. Hang on, Sylvia. I'm switching screens.

Should we let Wes back in? Okay, I'm going to skip 9.3 and go to 9.4 so we can get Aaron and Rosie the heck out of here. We have a radio road uh railroad crossing improvement project update construction phasing. Aaron Cox, our senior engineer with traffic will present this item. Thanks for sticking it out, Aaron. Hey, thanks for expediting me. I appreciate it.

I would have lost that bet. Uh good evening uh Bayer Council. I am Aaron Cox and I'm here to talk to you about the Radio Road uh grade crossing or grade crossing improvement project and we're going to ask for some direction from you. So the ask is that you will provide direction on the construction phasing options for the Radio Road Railroad crossing improvement project. So where is this project? Well, it's on Radio Road, which is between Sixth Street and Samson Avenue, right where the star is. Um, these are the primary access points, usually from Sixth Street or from Samson, and it were bounded by Prominade to the east. And we cross the BNSF railroad tracks right where the star is. And the project background, this project aims to install safety improvements at this grade crossing. It's funded um from the federal government uh through the section 130 program which is administered by CALR. We work with the California Public Utilities Commissions, CALR, BNSF Railroad, Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. And we will work with local businesses when it comes time to construct. Radio Road is classified as a collector street with over 8,000 cars per day. And we cross three tracks here with over 50 trains per day from BNSF, Metroink, and Amtrak. Little bit of the project details here. Uh we are aiming to install pedestrian improvements. So that's sidewalks, curb ramps, uh new crossing surface at this uh for the pedestrians and a defined path of travel to keep them safe. Uh there's going to be new warning devices. There's going to be a raised median to pro uh prevent wrongway driving. And there's also roadway improvements. It'll get repaved and it'll have a new crossing uh surface. And this also lays the groundwork for a future quiet zone if we're interested. So the two options we bring to you tonight is option A which is what we're going to call a full closure and option B which is a combination of a partial

closures with full closure. Option A will take around 8 to 12 weeks of construction. We only require railroad flaggers during active construction hours and the detour is a 1 and a half mile about 5 minute detour to go around. Option B stretches the duration all the way out from 16 to 24 weeks. Um, railroad flaggers and roadway flagers are needed for 20 weeks for 24-hour coverage. It uses the same detour and it also includes a full closure. So, a little more about option A, which is the full closure. In this um construction approach, we would demo the old crossing. We'd reprofile the approaches. We do all the concrete work of curb gutter, sidewalk, uh, curb ramps, and raised median. We'd install or the railroad would install new warning devices and new crossing panels. And our project would install new pavement and roadway striping. And this is what the detour would look like. The the hashed or shaded box is the actual crossing where it would be closed. And the two colored lines are the detour using Samson, Melissa, Mariah, and Prominade to get back to Sixth Street and vice versa. Again, this would be a full closure for 8 to 12 weeks. Option B is a little more involved. Um and it it gets broken into five different stages. The first stage would require no closing of the crossing for about three weeks. A roadway flagger would be needed during uh this operation and they would just be doing demolition of work in all four of the quadrants. Stage two, we would close the west side of the crossing and keep it open for the east side. So that would be northbound traffic and that would be about 3 to six weeks for this. And again, it requires roadway and railroad flaggers for 24 hours. um every day for those 3 to six weeks. Stage three is just the opposite. We flip it to the east side and we allow southbound traffic through. Uh stage four is a full closure for the south end of the crossing where we would do a

bunch of the asphalt work, the median, um things like that. And stage five is the other part of the full closure and that's uh one week in duration and it would piggy back off to the the previous phase which has four to eight weeks of full closure. a little more about option. This supposed to say option B, sorry. Um, but the detour stage two is a one-way detour and it's the same detour that was in option A using Samson, Melissa, Mariah, Prominade, and Sixth Street. And then we flip it and we go the other way. Sixth Street to Prominade, Melissa, Mariah, and Samson to get to Radio Road. And when we get to the full closure, it's just a birectional detour, the same as option A. And this is again 48 weeks for the stage four, another week for stage five.

And Aaron, you did say that's supposed to say option B, right? Yes, it was. Sorry, I had the colors right, but the the letters got changed around. Got it.

Um, and here is the, you know, the the breakdown of the comparison of a the full closure and b the partial with full closure. So the the staff recommendation would be the full closure. Um, it can be completed in approximately half the duration compared to option B. There's no cost for roadway flagers. The crossing is closed. We only need railway flaggers during active construction. This is the lower risk option. Um, with the crossing closed, cars can't get, you know, into construction traffic. They can't get into train traffic. Um, and there's no potential for wrongway driving or cars behind gates because it's all closed. This is the cheaper approach. We estimate it's about $300 to $400,000 less than the option B. And for messaging of the detours, this is one message. Here's your detour. It's it's two months long and that's it. The con is it's a full closure for 8 to 12 weeks. Now, option B, there are less significant detours because we have oneway traffic at time. Um, but there are a bunch of cons. There's the additional cost for 24-hour roadway flagging and uh and railroad flagging. Uh there's the extra duration of the project which adds inspection costs. There's also the higher risk option when you have half the crossing closed. Sometimes you get cars being impatient and they want to go the wrong way through the crossing. Uh and that has a potential for motorists to become trapped behind the the gates when the gates come down. It's the more expensive option, $300 to $400,000 more than the full closure approach. And this would require different messaging. It's multiple outreach campaigns. It's this stage of the project, here's your detour. This stage of the project, here's your new detour. So, it's a little more confusing. So, with that, I'd like to turn it over to council to provide direction on the construction phasing options presented for Radio Road.

Erin, before you leave, can you verify this starting this that McKenley will be completely open? Yes. Um, we're looking at construction starting, you know, mid next year. Okay, great. Mr. Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public? Mayor, yes, I have one speaker card for this item. Okay, Aaron, you might want to just step away for a second so the speaker can speak. Nice to see you, Brian. Good evening.

Good evening. I'm Brian Hatch, owner of AO Coolers, and we are the last business on radio, and so I'm very familiar with that train because I hear it all day long. Um, we have a great location. We uh uh manufacture softsided coolers for the marine and off-road industry. We've been here in Corona for over 20 years working. We've moved to many different places as our business has grown. Um I have a big concern if that road is going to be closed down radio. That's going to affect my business. It's going to affect my employees. We already have a hard time with Amazon there with all their trucks. I don't know where they're going to go. Um, it's kind of a disaster if this place if you guys close down radio. Um, how are we going to be compensated on the business that I do there? We have customers that come in and buy our products and stuff that are it's going to be hard for them to find out. No one's come to me to ask how it's going to affect our business. And this if this goes forward, even with um partial shutdown, um with that train going on there, there there's backups all the way to um Sixth Street sometimes. So now you're going to close down one one lane for the improvements. I'm trying to figure out what kind of improvements we're doing there. The only improvement that I would think would help the city is for them to stop blowing their horn. Besides that, you know, we're putting a sidewalk in there and stuff. There's not many people that walk walk by there. You know, I don't know what a sidewalk would do um to the people. Everyone's driving by there. Um I'm not trying to be mean, but it's the homeless that are walking through there. There's homeless behind there. Um that walk. If you want to protect and and make the city better, make it so the homeless can't go there. Um I've been witness to people getting hit by that train. you know, police have

come in and looked at my videos and seen cars going on that train track and being hit. Um, I think we should really look at this and see how it's going to affect because like I said, no one's come to me. I'm the last business there on those train tracks. And so, if that gets shut down, how am I going to be compensated with my business and stuff? But I'd like to see some more information uh about it. Um, but like I said, best improvement and I think it goes for the whole city cuz you can hear those horns. I live all the way up on top of the hill. I can hear them at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. Have them stop blowing those horns and that'll help out a lot. Thank you.

Thank you. One more speaker. Aaron,

Joe Morgan, 2063 Ren. Um, I'm kind of disappointed to know that that he wasn't contacted. It seems wild. He's right there next to the tracks. It seems like somebody would have touched base with him. Um, and I agree with him. I I've never seen anybody walking out there besides me pulling down posters. So, I've never actually seen anybody on foot out there. So, I I'm I'm curious about exactly what the what the benefit is or what's the point of this this deal. I mean, I I it's going to be a quiet zone. like what what's the improvement that allows them to not honk the horn, you know, that that's going to happen here? Is it just stronger gates or something? More prominent gate work or um if you have a choice, obviously the seems a full closure, it's the same time for disruption. It seems like a no-brainer. Uh also in the in the department of ridiculous questions and responses, uh the president of the Circle City Corral uh messaged me that it is corral. So, thank you.

Thank you. Was there any other speakers? Mayor, we do not have any more speaker cards. So, Aaron, I would like it if you could uh talk a little bit more about the project on the why. Why do we need it? What's it all about?

Sure. If I can bring the presentation back up, I can talk through a couple of the improvements. There it is. And these are great questions and I'm happy to answer what I can. So this was not a city-generated project. This was um the California Public Utilities Commission and um Calrans brought this to us. Our crossing was nominated for safety improvements. It has a certain amount of train volume, a certain amount of car volume and a certain amount of accident history here that made it eligible for these funds. This is a federal federally funded project and they came to us to say we want you to improve this crossing. So as part of this crossing um as I mentioned the pedestrian part has no nothing to do with the um quiet zone aspect but I'll talk about the quiet zone first. Um, by us putting in that raised median that that keeps us from having to install what they call quad gates, gates on every corner, and that keeps wrongway drivers from getting impatient and trying to shortcut the crossing and getting hit by trains. So, that's one of the safety features here. Um, also, if you've driven this crossing, it has a pretty steep profile to it, and low vehicles scrape and drag across it often. There's evidence of that out there. So, by rep-profiling the crossing, we're going to take away a low clearance hazard there. Um, and then there is no pedestrian path of travel out there today. Um, as part of a stipulation for getting these funds from the federal government, um, you have to treat pedestrians and we did a pedestrian count out there. It's very minimal, but we have to add these out there. We're also improving some ADA features out in the sidewalk, adding a crosswalk over here to to add a path of travel um to get from one side of the crossing to the other and to do it safely. So, I I think I kind of touched on

one more. Yeah. Um so, to Mr. Hatch's point, how So, you can still get to his business, but you're just coming from another direction. Correct. Let me pull up a detour map real fast. You could if you're coming from the other direction, you can't. You have to go all the way around. Let me ask one question before we we get off that point. You mentioned that it would be quiet zone ready ready or eligible.

And I thought that that was one of the one of the things that was in quiet zone is they wouldn't have to blow their horns. Um which I know drives you nuts and and everybody else including the city that's on that line not on right there. But um what would need to happen? My understanding was when this first came up was that this would be able to to be a quiet zone. So when we do this, is there some other step that needs to happen for us to have it be a quiet zone that would be more? Correct. Great question. Um so the federal government will not pay for quiet zones. Got it. But they're paying for all the improvements that make this eligible to be a quiet zone. So when this crossing is complete, we can go through the process to make this a quiet zone if we wanted.

What what what would what would we have to do in order to make a quiet zone? Um you fill out some forms and make some requests and it goes through um a big Do you remember the quiet zone study we did a couple years ago? Um and that was the feasibility study,

right? So what happens after that is you establish you know you you put in an application for a quiet zone. You meet with the FRA you meet with CPU and you go through this large process and they tell you is there anything else required at these crossings to do this. But first you have to establish a zone. How many crossings would be in that zone? Is it just this one crossing? And now that the McKinley grade crossing is is an overpass um it's gone that it's conceivable that this one could be its own quiet zone. You have probably a half a mile to the west you have Joy. So you'd still hear the trains from Joy at this crossing unless you wanted to treat them all with individual improvements and make a quiet zone to encompass them all.

Okay. I I know that the plan is to do to do all but we also know we're waiting for a triple track project that's going to come even though I've talked to BNSF and they said that's not on their not on their their uh their radar. Mhm. So, I'll go back to my my question again, which is if we do this, is this a paperwork request or would there is there some additional additional work that would have to be done for it to become a quiet zone? So, we've already done all the risk index calculations for this crossing. I think it's just an application, some meetings, and then, you know, ultimately FRA approval.

Okay. So, so Brian, I I think what I'm getting at is that if we do this and we we apply, then they wouldn't have to sign to sound their horns at that lo at that location. Correct. So, we wouldn't have to spend any other money except for just applying for these things. Okay. Correct. Voted on or nothing. It just seems too easy that now there's no horns after

Yeah. Can you can you explain that that process a little bit more? Um I'd have to dust off some knowledge on that but yes there is an application um you know all these organizations like the FRA CPU the railroads the city um a couple other organizations and entities are involved there's a diagnostic meeting everybody comes to the site says yes you know we agree with your your improvements or we think there might be something else needed could be striping could be signs things like that um these are the marginal things you might have to do to make it quiet zone eligible they can't tell you no if your calculations, you know, say that it's eligible for a quiet zone. Okay. I mean, because that that was the whole impetus for for this and originally was

that we looked we did a study for the entire for the entire city. We're trying to look at ways to do this. This seemed like there was a way to fund this with the goal being not the goal wasn't to provide pedestrian access, though it's part of the required step. Was to have an actual quiet zone at this location. Correct. Okay. So, and again, the federal government won't pay for it, but they're paying for all the things that make it eligible for quiet zone.

Okay. So, then you're you're and I'm just going to repeat this again to make sure we everybody hears it. So, we get this all done. We submit we submit a request to the FRA to have this established as a quiet zone. It goes to the CPU for approval and they're basically going to follow what the FRA says. It's going to come back to the city with any any additional improvements that we would need in order to make sure. However, this looks like it would encompass everything that would be needed. I'm I'm cognizant of the fact that that Mr. Hatch's business is right there. I've been there many, many times. Um, and I I'd want to make sure that that this closure for this short period of time would be worth it and would be worth it for him because that train is ridiculously loud because it's I mean, literally, what is it 50 yards from your front door? um that it would be worth if yes, it's not going to completely eliminate the the train sound, but it's a lot different 50 yards versus, you know, a half a mile away. So, I think my my question would be or what I would want to make sure is that this council is committed to do whatever it would take in order to make sure that this would qualify for a quiet zone.

I I want to like piggyback, Wes, because you're asking all the questions that I was going to and and no, no, no, not don't apologize. What I'm saying is like I'm on the same wavelength and I think where I we might be feeling the same feeling which is like I just want like an answer of like are we already planning to do this? If we're not planning to do this, do I need to send in a future agenda item request? Cuz I will do that because what this is cool and I'm going to weigh in on which option I prefer, but what I really want is that quiet zone. And so um and so what I what I want is like so where is that can we can we say definitively that we are going to do that once this is finished and if not what do you need from us?

Yeah can can we commit today to that council member let me jump in here um we're we're going to include that as part of the project. So, so just letting you know that we're going to construct this and then the next step is we're going to immediat apply for that quiet zone to make sure that that we go through that process. Okay. Does it have to be after after it's complete? Is that what the Okay. Okay. But but it's but we're doing it. We're doing it. If Cool. If if if we're directed to do it, we'll go after that. Okay. That'll be our next

Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Um Thank you. That you lit that's that's where my head was at. I was like, that's that's really where it's at. We've been we did this whole study. We had residents. Um people want that horn to stop. So, I think this is really cool. You guys have been really creative in securing outside funds to get this done. I have a couple of questions. Are there any concerns about the federal funding not being available to complete this?

Um Calrans has said that we're far enough along in the process. We're at like 90% design and your decision today and your direction is going to impact our staging plans and then we can wrap up design and get this out for construction early next year because we're so far along in the process. They don't have any concerns with jeopardizing the funding yet. Okay, cool. Cool. Um I was going to ask about the turnaround and then um this would allow for horns to stop. Yes. So option B, which is considered a partial, still has a full closure. Yeah, it has to. So it has to there's like no way around that, right? So there is no real partial closure. Yeah. It's like partial in moments. It's

okay. And you thought your brain is incredible. So you thought about all these options like you you've you've thought creatively of like what other ways can we Okay. All right. So I trust that. Um I uh I I think it's super critical that it be done right once we know for sure McKinley is running and flowing smoothly. Um, and so and I and I and I'm usually, you know, clearly it's off the pulling the band-aid off. It's just I recognize that that area has had to be resilient for a very long time. So, um, are we project managing this in-house or are we getting anybody someone else to manage this project?

Yeah. I'm curious about because sometimes sometimes there's ways to like maybe we can get it done faster, right? I I can speak to that and these estimates here for these durations, this was our project team, you know, coming up with this. If we get a really good contractor, I'm sure we can do it in less. These are really conservative numbers. Okay, that's good to hear. Then I'm I'm uh option A. Thank you. Sure, Tony.

Yeah. So, um, a couple things. this full closure, they'll still people will still be able to enter off of Sixth Street to go down all the way to the end of this road to this business if need be. And anybody that needs to that is a is is trying to get to this business from the opposite direction just has to go over Park Ridge to Sixth. Prominade. Yes. Prominade to six. Sorry. Yeah. They're not even going to be anywhere near McKinley. Correct. You're you're only going to go as far east on Sixth Street as Prominade.

I I know. So, you're still going to be you're people are still going to be able to get to this location and every location on that street. Just going to have to do it one of two different ways rather than being able to do it either way. A project like this is only a full closure makes sense to get it done get it done quickly. And one of the things that that uh I want to make sure that that that I'm understanding is I'm committed that that once this is done that I want to allow our traffic team to go through the process to get this quiet zone. But Aaron doesn't have a crystal ball. So he can't confirm and say for certain that this is going to get us a quiet zone. What he can say is is that we're going to apply and that if there's anything else that needs to be done, he's going to come back and say this is what else needs to be done and then we'll make a determination if if we're going to do that. I'm not going to commit to saying, "Yeah, 100% I'm going to do it because he may come back and say it's going to cost us $4 million." I don't know. But I'm committed to having him come back and telling me what what needs to be done in order for it to get done. any any of the business owners up and down that street knew that there was a train there when they went into those buildings and I worked next to the train track just as close as this building for many many many years so I understand and all of the concerns but nobody went that that railroad track was there before any of those businesses so let's not kid ourselves that if it's a burden it was there first train track the train was there first and everybody knew it when they when they went to for that building. Doesn't mean that it it's great, but they all knew it. So, let's get this done on somebody else's money and then go through the process and hopefully we can get it. Thanks, Aaron.

Thank you, Wes. You have anything else? Yeah. No, I just I I I agree with you in the fact that all this has been there. However, I I this is a stated goal. This is a stated goal for this council. We've we've set In fact, I think one of the reasons that we did this was for your district. This has impacted I think more nobody calls from my district the complaint even though I I hear it too Brian and I I have my window open night I in the winter time but this is a stated goal for this council is to is to establish a quiet zone and if we can we can get the first one out of the way this is the whole reason for it I'm not in disagreement with you several million dollars per crossing

and I'm not in disagreement what what I wanted was a commitment that we were starting the process you see what I'm saying I what I wanted is like are We So once this is done, like are we moving forward or is that not happening? And so what we have is that it's moving forward. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen without your approval. It was like $3 million acrossing. No, that was to start. Well, this is why this is all being paid. This is the $3 million. And also, the train was there first, but the train how many train trips are happening is increasing. Yeah. And and and it's not the same as when folks went in.

It is not. I just want to say I when I moved in there I know the train was there but the road was not stopped. That road being stopped is going toffect my business on the income I could get there when I went there. Of course you did. That road being shut down is going to affect my business. Right. I wasn't

Tom. Did you have anything? Um, yeah, I I'm for option A just for the safety factor and I think it's the right way to approach the construction. Brian, I do want to say thank you for coming down and speaking up and speaking out and you've done the right thing and thank you. You you did good. I don't know another way to say it, but thank you. And uh those are my only two thoughts. So, thank you.

All right. Thank you. I wanted to make sure that we do reach out to all affected businesses though so they know this is coming. And I do think option A, just rip the bandit off, get it done, you'll be over. Um, but I would like us to as a city, Jacob, to be able to highlight all the the businesses that are going to be affected that actually have walk-in customers on a daily basis. Um, just to just to highlight those businesses that are affected. So hopefully the you know the income loss isn't bad, but is that something we could look into? I don't know. I don't know if there's 10 or two. We We can look into it.

Look into that and just see how we can, you know, market for them a little bit. I mean, it I mean, Brian's right there though that that now with Amazon right next door, there are a lot of vehicles there and now with no place for them to go. Um, you know, they're going to be accessing through radio. So, it's going to need some additional traffic, you know, coordination and and communication with everybody there because it's going to be I mean, it's going to be a mess. But also with the construction, where are all these trucks?

We'll have uh Aaron address that and then we'll go ahead and get move move on. Yeah. um your direction informs our decision- making and um we have to come up with detour plans. We have to come up with construction staging plans and if we're going with option A, we can document all that. We can get you where all the trucks are coming from. And today currently there's Riverside Flood and there's been all the other um highway construction trucks and that's all been on the north side of the crossing. But I can confirm that for you in our staging plan. All right. Thank you. Do I have a motion for it? Sounded like uh everybody was kind of leaning towards option one, right? Yeah. All right. Wes moved it.

Mayor, we don't need a motion for this item. Consensus. Okay, great. Thank you. All right. Uh legislative matters. None. Reports from boards and commissions, library board of trustees. It's a Did I skip that? Oh, I forgot. Yeah, that's what happens when you try to be nice. Yeah, 9.3. All right. Uh, downtown revitalization, sixth street beautifification design elements. Brett Channing, our assistant city manager, will present this item.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. Excited to present this item for you guys. We have a fun topic to talk about here. And this is what some of the improvements that we have being proposed at Sixth Street as part of our beautifification project. The ask for tonight is that the city council provide direction on the iconic downtown signs and a possible element at the center of the circle. So for the agenda that we're going to talk about some background on this topic. Uh we're going to talk about some iconic downtown sign options. Uh a potential element at the center of the circle and some next steps. Just a little back little bit of background. One of the things that we've been talking about with Six Street. Thank you. um is a big a big part of the beautifification process that we're undertaking is really trying to create a sense of place and a big part of that has to do with signs, wayfinding, public art and other things that really makes Sixth Street as part of this beautifification process feel like home and a fun place to be. So the project area that we are talking about is in this between six in Maine and six in Ramona. and we will be talking about locations for the iconic signs and a potential element at the center of the circle. So, for tonight, we have two key decisions for the council to make. One is the location of the sign and what the sign's going to look like. So, we're going to start first with the location. We have four possible options for the location. First is at six in Maine only. The second option would be a iconic sign at the midblock crosswalk. The third option would be a sign at six and main and also at six and Ramona. And then a fourth option would be two half

signs size signs at the midblock crosswalk. And this is a summary of of those four options with some visuals and I'm going to get into each one individually. So, first option one, this is the iconic sign at sixth and main only. As you can see, uh the sign uh would be prominently displayed there at that intersection. Um you can also get a look at at what's being proposed as part of the beautifification project with uh medians and also trees on both sides. This sign in particular, uh, it would be a double-sided sign so that you could see it coming from both directions. But this is looking east on Sixth Street at Maine. So on the on the right would be the current law building. This is another look of of the sign. One of the unfortunate aspects of this proposed sign is that there is a traffic signal at six and Main that would be partially blocking the sign itself depending on the angle that you're coming in. So looking directly across from the intersection, there would be a blockage. And we've talked with our traffic team. There would be potentially some options of getting rid of that that far left signal and having that come out as a a little pole in the median, but those two left signals will still need to be remained. So there still be some partial blockage of the sign with this option.

Can I jump in? Is that possible or is it can we do it? We can do it.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, also as part of option one and for option three, what we're proposing is um some nice decorative lights that would go across the crosswalk. You can see these are hanging circular lights and in the far distance you could see that sign at six and main, which is again double-sided. So you can see it coming from both ways. This is another look at the crosswalk at six and at um between north and south mall. So this is facing towards uh the north mall and you can see there's kind of this translucent block there and that is uh for a potential element that could be in the center and we're going to talk about that later. Um also want to point out here that we have some ballards with lemon trees there. A good way to again bring in that um element of of lemon in the history and corona. And this is another view of of those circular hanging lights. So option two is to have the signs at the crosswalk themselves. You can see here this is um singlesided sign facing both west and east and the circular lights are in between. They're shrung in between uh the two signs that you would have there. This is a view of what it would look like at night. It gives a nice feel uh really uh prominent as you are walking between the the north and south mall. And here's another look at this option. Again, you can kind of see the backing of the two signs and how the the lights would be strung in between. And then here's a a nice night look of what it would feel like to be down there at this at nighttime with this option. And here's one more look at what that sign would look like where you can kind of get an idea of the width of the median, the the travel lane, the sidewalks, and the bike lanes.

Option three uh also has a sign at six and Maine and a sign at six in Ramona. So, the real difference between this one and option one is you can see there's no backing to it. So, it's a single-sided sign that is just facing out towards six and Maine. And then you, this would be the other sign that would be at at um six and Ramona um going towards uh the north south mall crosswalk. Now, option four is uh two halfsize signs um at the the crosswalk. And um you can see how that would look. This one is a little bit more arched. You would still have the circular lights in between. Um and one of the the reasons for coming up with this option was it potentially would allow for it to be a little bit more visible from coming up and down the street versus with option two, the full sign um could have some blockage with the the palm trees. So this is uh again a summary of of all four options and some of the pros and cons for each option. So option one uh a pro is it's it's highly visible. Six and main is is the main intersection in in downtown. There would be plenty of cars that would be driving by and they would see the sign. It also signifies that you're entering into the heart of downtown. And it spreads out some of the features. So those circular lights are in a different area than where the iconic sign is and it would be a little bit low lower cost because it's just one sign. Uh unfort is that there is only one sign. So it's a little bit more less bold in that way. Uh it is also not at the center of downtown and as we saw the traffic signal does block a good portion of that sign. Option two, uh the pros would be that it's at the heart of the downtown. It provides a little bit more of a grand feeling at that crosswalk than having

just the lights. It integrates well with those circular lights and you won't have there won't be a need for extra poles because it can be hung in between the two signs. Uh also provides some other multiple options that we can look at. The cons is that it's it's not as visible from Main Street as you're driving through downtown. It concentrates a lot of different elements in one space. And um as I as I mentioned earlier, the the medium palm trees do block the sign at certain angles and you wouldn't see it until you get a little little bit closer. Option three, uh which is six and remain and six in Ramona, uh is the most visible of the three options because you have signs in two different locations. It really hugs the the heart of the downtown and it it also spreads out those features with features at the crosswalk and then at both intersections. A con is that it is going to be a higher cost because there's two signs and you know it might put too much of a focus on those two area that area between Maine and Ramona and you still have that same issue with the blockage of the sign at six in Maine. Now option four uh the pro for that is it would avoid being blocked from some of the trees um that you would have there at the crosswalk. So you would see it a little bit further away. Um, cons though is it's less prominent. It's a little bit more quaint, feels less bold, and it doesn't really tie in as well with those circular lights as you see in option two. So, with the style, um, two things to consider. There's an option that would have a lemon backdrop like this, and this, uh, is, as you saw in option one, or you could go without a lemon drop or backdrop, uh, and these would have to be a single-sided sign. So, some of the pros um with the lemon is it it adds a little bit of pop of color and it continues that lemon theme. It also allows a sign to be double-sided

if the council would like that. The con is it could distract from those neon lights that are going to be used for the the heart of the circle, the the lettering, and it might be a little too much lemon. You have lemon with lemons. And um you know, we've thought it kind of gives a 1950s60s mid-century vibe versus the No Lemon gives more of a 1930s40s vintage vibe. Some of the pros for the No Lemon uh is it has that vintage feel. It accentuates the neon lights that are going to be used and it doesn't overdo that lemon theme. Uh some of the cons is it would only allow for single-sided and and it does feel a little bit less bold. So, I'm going to pause there at this point and ask for the council to give some feedback on which options they like with regards to the sign location and style elements

questions. I I don't know if I have questions. I think I just there's some comments. There's gonna be more to this presentation though. Yeah, there's a whole presentation then we'll go speakers. Correct. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Okay, I can keep going. Um, so one other thing that we uh want to discuss tonight with part of this presentation is a potential element at the heart of the circle. Uh, back in 2024 at a March 6th meeting, the last time we were talking about the Six Street beautifification prog uh project, the council had mentioned that they'd like to see some sort of element at the center of the circle. uh an obelisk was thrown out, marker, um a monument, something could be there at the center of the circle. So last month, uh staff did some outreach to the community to get some some feedback as to potential ideas for what could be there at the center of the circle. And uh we have some themes of what that potentially could be. So we came up with four different themes for the council to consider. One would be a grand road race theme where there could be a replica race car bronze sculpture of some sort. You could have a checkered flag sculpture. There could be a finish line in the ground, something along those lines. For a citrus theme, you could go with a lemon tree sculpture, a basket with lemons, uh some sort of homage to the Corona Lemon Company with a sign. Another idea would be a crown element theme where there could be a crown sculpture. Uh we remember getting a suggestion for a crown with lemons where the jewels would go. Uh and then another option would be a a center circle landmark. So this would be something a circular iron plate or or something similar to that in the ground that would depict that you're at the center of the circle. Uh, it could be um just a word mark, could be the city seal, could be a replica of Grand Boulevard. There's a lot of different options that you could consider. And one other items that were thrown there was a bullseye of pavers

indicating that location. So the ask for the council um would be if you would like to pursue some sort of element at the center of the circle and if yes, what that theme would be. And that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay. Why don't we first go to speaker cards from the public? Miss Edwards. Mayor. Yes, we have one speaker card for this item.

Okay. Come on down, Joe. I You probably won't be surprised to think that this is one of the more ridiculous things that I think I've heard in this room before. It's like the the staff gave you a box of crayons and allowing you to design something. You don't even know what's going to be down there. You have no idea. You sort of have a wish list, a dream board of what you think you want down there. And but when you look at these pictures there, it's not going to be anything like that. There's no looming buildings over the top of it. You have no idea what the context for any of this is going to be. But then you guys are going to sit there with a box of crayons and go, "Yeah, I want a pony." and and a spaceship and and I'm gonna be a fireman when I grow up. Get stop. Just stop. Stop. When you figure out what's going to be down there, then figure out where the signs are going to be. You don't know where the crosswalks are going to need to be. You don't know what any of the the the path of travel type of stuff is going to be. You have zero idea, but you're going to sit here and, you know, and pretend to design some signs, some iconic signs. It's presumptuous that you're going to call them iconic. I'm not really sure what that even means. Thank you very much.

Thank you. [Applause] I am interested in a pony and a rocket ship though. Okay. Comments for my colleagues. I got plenty, but I think to Tony's gonna go first. You got to say,

can we go back to the to the slides, please? I think the one that's the one I want to look at is the um the one that has the the crosswalk. You pick which one. Uh let's see. Okay. So, can we go the one where it shows the crosswalk with the with all the stuff? There we go. Okay. Uh either one of those. Well, the one that shows the crosswalk. There we go. Okay. So, here are my thoughts. Um one, there's way too much going on. It almost seemed like we're we just took everything and threw it there. Um uh I I and I'm going to kind of address all of the things. So, first I I think that if you put a um a sign on on Maine and one on Ramona, it looks like that's the circle and that's not the circle. circles the whole whole thing. So if we're going to do something, it should be here in the crosswalk. This crosswalk is there. It is the actual center of the circle. That crosswalk is not going to change from what I understand. Is that correct? Yep. No reason for that to change. That's going to be the crosswalk. Okay, great. Um I don't like the lemon trees there. They're going to end up growing and getting in the way. Um there's more classy ballards. I think the ballards that are at the Starbucks that are at the corner that were protecting the the now destroyed um historic marker that someone stole. Uh those ballards are small, but they make larger ones that are classy, but they have kind of a a vintage feel to them. Um I I like the circles on top. That's great. You know, kind of hearkens back. Um, I don't I think having a monument, even though I I think obelisk was my idea, the only reason I would I would

even advocate for this at that point is because I want it this to look like um we're trying to recreate something. I don't want everything to look brand new. I just don't I think that you should have found items like if you go to um you know some place that's you know even at the lab you walk around the lab you'll see little things that hearken back to the past things that were there before and even though they you know that building was completely changed it you know yes it was a it was a packing house and it was a Packard dealership and you know it was it was just a building at one point. So when they redid this, they you walk around that place and you find little little things that hearken you back to what was there. So I think um at this point if you're talking about a ball the ball I'd rather see a ballard a real traditional ballard one that would look like that. I I really don't want to see something in the middle except for if we were going to do something in fact I would like to do something that's set in the ground that would show the actual center of the circle whether that's an historic marker or something that would show to demonstrate that basically this city started at that point and you know Tom tells the story better than I do but um you know when the the city was founded the very first day they you know the um they set up camp right next door. There was actually a fist fight that happened because the um engineer that was hired for this um Hyram Kellogg um there was another competing engineer that came out and they he said there's no way you're going to you're going to create a perfect circle. Good luck. And they actually got in a fist fight and the guy got thrown off the off the project and Hireum said come back and you know come back in a couple weeks and and uh you know you can you can pay me um what you owe me. uh will make a bet that I can't do it. And sure enough, he laid it out. But that's where the city started. And

there needs to be some kind of recognition, whether it's something that looks old like an like some kind of a, you know, obelisk have that feel to them. Not a not a um an Egyptian obelisk. I think I saw that in a couple of a couple of presentations, but there are I was back in in uh in the south uh doing a little tour and I saw a lot of those things. But if we don't do that, just something simple on the ground that when you're walking across, you'd see it. And it's something that it's not necessarily you have to see everything when you're driving by. I want people to to walk through and find things. And that goes through, you know, the entire project that we're building, not just this part. But I I'm leaning more toward having something there at the center because that's where we're starting just like we did in 1886 is starting there. Um I don't like the lemon on the back. I think it's too much. You got lemon on top of lemon and you have all this other stuff going on. Keep it simple. Keep it clean. As my wife constantly reminds me, less is more. Um because I I I definitely have that that uh lean toward that I want to put all the all the things that I like all in one place. Um, but I think we need to resist that in this case and make sure that we have something that that people can um experience but not like this is the only thing.

What crossing you want? Do you want any cross? They didn't hear that. Yeah. Just the just the single sign at the at at the crossing. That's it. At the crosswalk. At the crosswalk. Can you pull up those options? I think it's option two, right? One on each side. It's option two, but you can show. There you go. That one's nighttime. That one's daytime. And this is the way I'd like to see with no no lemon around it. Clean. Mayor, I'll keep mine very simple. I actually like the same the same crosswalk design. I also want something that says this is the center of the circle historically in the ground. So great, Tom. I agree with Wes. What? Oh,

less is more, brother. Thank you. Wes is more. less less is more.

Um, yeah, I had I had a couple questions. I I'm I'm actually very happy about this and I think I heard a few months back from people, why don't you improve the streets before you start building buildings and so uh they actually are building streets, improving streets before building buildings. The uh I'm for option two. I I do worry about people able to drive up on it and see it. So maybe some of those palm trees might need to be set back a little bit further and studied a little bit more. The to build off of Wes's story a little bit, when Hyram Kellogg picked the center of the circle, he uh he had to dial in his transom. And so he set a fire at the exact center of the circle, a big like bonfire so he could key in on it. So he literally set a fire at the center of the circle. That's how our city started off. I don't think there needs to be an elaborate monument. I I think it could be small and simple and built into the ground. I I really do believe that citizens just want to know where the center of the circle is. There's a fascination with it. I I think you live here long enough, you just want to see it. It really was a a genius plan to build a three mile circle, right? Especially in the 1800s, you had a you had your community and churches and retail and business on the inside of the circle and you had your agriculture on the outside of the circle. And it was just to me it was brilliant. And so if we can mark the center of that circle with a simple marker, I think that's really cool and I think the citizens will appreciate it. I did have one question for you, Brett. um the height or the elevation of the circle lights and the signs, they're going to be high enough to where a semi doesn't roll through and knock them out, right?

That's correct. Okay. And I I just wanted to make sure we covered that cuz that would have been pretty embarrassing. And uh with that, mayor, I'm option two. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. I have a couple of questions. Um, so going to the image. I think it was the first image where it was like six in. There we go. Uh, that one. Or the one with that has a traffic light that faces it. That that one. Can the signs be raised above the traffic lights?

Yes, the sign could be higher. Um, but the the way it was designed, I think, was to make it so that it's it's that appropriate height for where you're looking straight at the sign and you're not having to look too high. So there it might look a little odd if it's almost too high. So it's striking that fine balance between um not being too high up.

Sure. So there are like height preference. It's kind of like when you're hanging pictures at home, it's supposed to be like at 60 in, right? Um, so, uh, okay, I get that. Um, so staying here or the the lemon background, uh, on the signs, the classic signs, the ones the sign that does not have a lemon in the background. Um, there we go. Go. Actually, go back to Yeah. Thank you. Um, so this looks I like this font without the lemon in the background, but those rods in the background kind of take away from the non-background background. Is there a way to um minimize what's behind the sign?

Yes, absolutely. That's something that we could explore as a as an option if you that's what the rest of the council would would like to see. It's going to have neon. Correct. But then like during the day it's just um anyway.

Okay. I was curious about that. Um so I I I for one want to see more lemon trees in the downtown. I think um one of the um things that is not often used is like tapping into all of our senses and the sense of smell is actually one of our strongest senses as humans. It can trigger nostalgia. It can trigger memories. Um you know, you get it when you walk in prominads of other um cities in the IE that incorporate citrus trees. when they're blossoming, it creates a really wonderful experience for pedestrians and for our community. So, I want to see more lemon trees. I would like to see more lemon trees on the center, on the sides. Um, I I don't want to lose the canopies that the palm trees create. Um, but I think we should be incorporating more lemon trees and I would love to have support from my colleagues for something like that. you you don't think that I mean one of the things I was concerned about that a it's there's a lot there I get the idea the smell I it's one of the things that I like going to the library is walking through when the lemon when the the oranges are blossom but they block a lot of a lot of places and I'm worried about that you know someone's going to be walking there and either it's going to be a lot of work to make sure that they trim those and they don't stay that shape they grow over time

correct and and so we'd have to trim and do so proactively and maybe it's not in the median maybe it's not every single one. Maybe it's on the sidewalks. I would like I'm perfectly happy with them being in other places. I just don't want them in the in the in the um in the median just or in the crosswalk just because I think it it there's too much going on. I I I would love to see it somewhere else like maybe, you know, instead of some of these bushes that are in the median, maybe have one or two. In fact, I think you have a better experience when you're driving by. You could actually smell it. Um then you would waft. I mean I

I I disagree. just I disagree. I think we should have more lemon trees and it should be um along this entire corridor. I love the idea of having it somewhere where folks can actually walk past and smell it. I think that's that is the experience that we're trying to create here. We're trying to create a walkable downtown and we want there to be like memories built and for you to enjoy the stroll and what better way than to tap into that sense of smell. I I think it I agree with you, but it doesn't all have to be in one spot. We We have two other places that we're going to be designing and putting different things in. I don't want to see it all in one place because then it just becomes looks like we we have a bunch of ideas and we just we all we throw them all in one concentrated place and everything.

So maybe it's further discussion, but all we're talking about is the sign right now. Okay. Talk about trees later. All right. Sure. If we're going to table the discussion about trees, that's fine. We've talked about other things as well, Mr. Mayor. For no trees, but um Go ahead.

That's all right. That's all right. Um Okay. So, um I initially liked the idea of um of framing and having Ramona and Sixth Street. Um, but I I've had my my mind changed by comments made um from my colleagues about um that being a little bit limiting for the future of what is the circle and the downtown. And so I I believe that the right approach would be a midblock sign, either option two or option four. Um, I agree that the sign without the lemon in the background is the way to go, but I think that we really need to pay attention to what is sustaining that sign. And if there's a lot back there, it's actually going to diminish the appeal of the letters. Um, I don't love the lights that are there, the circular lights. I get that they're really cool. I get that they look nice right now. I We don't have a crystal ball. We can't predict the future, but we have some really interesting decorations on Main Street. And um they haven't aged well. And my concern is that these circle circular lights will not age well. And so, while I want us to have some sort of, you know, something denoting this crosswalk, and I I get it, I I don't know that these signs are it. Um, and then, um, lastly, between options two and option four, I actually prefer option four because of its view. Um, I think the sign being perfectly in the middle is not going to be appreciated um by folks or it's it's just I don't like that the visibility is cut off. Um, and as for the um the marker, I totally agree. I think it should be on the ground. I think it

should be something um you know there's there's these markers in other cities around the world and they kind of mark a geographic location and they're they're cool and they're not ob like um obstructive and uh it won't have people like stopping to gather around with group pictures, but it can be like a cool scavenger hunt element of the downtown. So, I I agree with um some sort of placard or something on the ground demarking the actual center and my vote is for option four. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Well, my first thought was option two. I just thought it was bold and I thought it looked really good. The lighting, I mean, I could be convinced that there might be better options out there, but I like it. I like that that picture a lot. I like it without the lemon yellow backdrop on that sign. And I don't like the monument. It appears to be blocking access. Even though it probably isn't bad, I just don't like the look. I like something flat on the ground identifying the center of the circle as well. So, we have Are you No, I like option two. I I think that um like option two.

I think that as you're I think as you're walking around that area, that just shows you that you're there in the center. So, I like that one the best. I wouldn't fall in the sword over anything, though. Um, Tony, two, right? Yeah, I was something in the ground. Okay. Two. Two. So, no background. It's going to be two. No background, something in the ground. Thank you, mayor. That's the direction we needed.

All right. Thank you. All right. And then, um, moving on. Legislative matters. None. Reports and boards and commission. Library board of trustees. Receive and file the library board of trustees report update from September 23rd, 2025. Planning, Housing Commission, none. Parks and Recck, none. Regional meetings update from Mayor Jackie Casillas. Vice Mayor Jackie Casillas on the Western Riverside Council WCOG. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Um, we had some updates, uh, IN programmatic updates. We had environmental program updates. But here's the thing that I want to pull out from this last meeting. We had our annual PACE unclaimed hero refunds. Uh, I can't pronounce that sheet a sheetment update. Um, so sometimes people have refunds uh for their um for their PACE lean and for whatever reason the notices, the mail, the they go unanswered and so they have these refunds, they have this money and they don't know that they have this money and so efforts are made. Um, all of us on the congress saying have said, "Can I just have their address and I will knock on their door?" Like, "Give me all of the Corona residents and I will make sure that they know that they have this money." Um, apparently that's not allowed. So, instead, um, you all have to go and go to a website and type in your information and see if there's money there that you are entitled to. Um, for the 2025 reporting cycle covering refunds issued between July 1st of 2021 and June 30th of 2022, staff identified 446 unclaimed statewide refunds totaling 697,128. These unclaimed refunds will be remitted to the state on June 15, 2026. So rather than getting those monies from WRCOG and the process being a little bit simpler, you're going to have to then go, you know, request your refund from the state and it can just get it's just it's it can be more difficult. And so, um, we are interested in supporting the outreach efforts and want to encourage property owners to visit WRCOG's website. So go to wrg Oh gosh, this URL is pretty

long. um go to the WRCOG website and type in hero refund. Um and you'll get the larger website, which they should have really done a bitly for this. Um but if you had a PACE assessment, if you have if you had solar on your on your homes, um if you're just curious to know if you have a refund, go on the WRCOG website, search for the hero refund, and type in your information and see if you've got a check waiting for you. And then I believe the next one's mine too. Yes.

Okay. Um both uh council member Speak and I went to um League of City conference. Um I don't want to steal any of his thunder. I just wanted to share a couple of um the more interesting sessions I attended. Um I attended one about um you know disaster preparedness and lessons learned. And I've already requested from um city manager Ellis to have a discussion with our first responders and our disaster preparedness team to better understand what our role as council members during emergencies is is. We had panelists at this uh breakout session from um Malibu and um and I'm blanking on the second city, but it was right after Malibu. And so they um they shared, you know, of the checklist and these are all the things that you're probably already doing. Um one thing you should do when they're talking directly to staff is talk to your council members. Make sure that they know where they're supposed to to do or be and report to. And also make sure that your staff understands that they are emergency responders in an emergency because there was um there were some issues during these you know devastating fires where they had some um staff members who just like I can't I can't go or I don't want and you're like no no no this is like your actual job. So um anyway I have no doubt I know we're super prepared um but I want to make sure that I'm prepared as well and that's something that I'm curious to learn more about. Um there was a really great conversation about child care as infrastructure in cities and you know I don't I don't know

you were going to go that one

you know it it's the most pressing thing in my life right now but um but it's really interesting to see um how other cities and other states are approaching child care and um assisting parents and families um and really how that's like an economic driver in these communities. And so, um, I'm not sure how how much, um, the city of Corona can incorporate, um, but I I am interested in seeing how best we can support, um, organizations that are providing child care, affordable childare in our community. And there might be some way to make that happen. And then lastly, uh the third one that I want to highlight is um there was a conversation about um our use of data for public safety and flock cameras and um data protection measures and um how in the state of California while we have um you know protections like the California Values Act where there isn't coordination between local agencies and federal agencies um that the reality is that this is a private company and you do have cities that that that are working against the California values act and they can access back data through a backdoor. And so the question then becomes how is how is a city protecting access to the data because one of the benefits of using this kind of technology is the connectedness across the cities and across the state. It's the fact that, you know, we can see where it is that like this license plate read. It read here, it read there. You know, it doesn't stop in the city. But, um, Corona may not be actively participating in helping with, um, you know, uh, immigration enforcement, but there are other cities that that are. And so I'm curious to, you know, read

more on, you know, revisiting our contract with Flock and seeing what it is that we can do on our end to ensure data protections and that we're not I know that we're doing everything above bar, but making above board. Thank you. Um, but making sure that there isn't a a passive use by someone that is not us data. So anyway, that's my report out from League of Cities. Thank you. Thank you, Wes. You had your report out from League of the Cities. Yep. Really quick, we cover it all.

We did not we did not go to the same the same things. However, I I was very um unimpressed with the with the the sessions this year. There just wasn't that many good ones. I was not happy about it. There was a lot of special interest stuff that seemed to be kind of and and didn't have much driver for us. The only the two that I went to or at least I'm going to note here is this u uh addressing the erosion of trust in local government and uh I shared it with my colleagues and and with city staff and it really talked about how um frankly we're doing a lot of these things a checklist of things that the transparency the one thing that I think that we don't do very well is is tell our own story um and you know toot our own a little bit uh getting more information out about what we're doing and then not only to just putting out on social media, but um talking one-on-one, you know, uh not waiting till there's an emergency or something bad happens that we can rely on people in the, you know, and the the general public to repeat the things that we've told them. So, churches, you know, chambers, that sort of thing, getting more information out about all the good things that we're doing. Um and you know, it's interesting. I kind of did a little microcosm of that this weekend. went to the open house at at the at station six, which was great. Um, and I sat I kind of hung around for a couple hours and talked to residents and eight, you know, I talked to 10 10 folks. Eight of them were really excited to hear more about downtown. They'd only heard bits and pieces or heard other things to the grapevine. So, it was good to be able to kind of firm up some of the things that we're doing. and um the one person basically came up with some you know negative narratives and and were able to you know have a discussion and they were very pleased to hear the rest of the story and I think that that kind of thing you know not only with the five of us but you know that should be repeated

out into the public um so people can repeat the things that that they're not only hearing but but seeing in real life and you know drive them down. In fact that person called me the next day and said I drove down around Sixth Street. I I drove uh went and had dinner at the Circle City Tavern and they were really excited to see you know what's coming next. And then the last thing was um you know I'm always looking for other people's money the grants and economic development playbook. Some of the stuff was the thing same thing we hear every year which is you know build more houses. Um and then you know there was some plug for some additional uh financing options uh through climate resilient districts and a long list of grant opportunities including some Prop 4 funds which I think everybody try is trying to get Prop 4 funds. That money is going to run out real quick. But I shared that with staff so we can see if any of those are viable for us. And that was it. Thank you very much.

Thank you Miss Edwards. Any uh speaker cards for public comment on the regional updates? Mayor, we do not have any speaker cards. All right. City attorneys reports and comments. Mr. Mr. Derith, city manager reports and comments. Mr. Ellis. Oh, mayor. Thank you. Any of my colleagues have anything? So, I was notified uh by Bobby Spiegel that Kim Cammy has passed. What? Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have something? Oh, I didn't. I'm sorry. You always say no. Yeah. I'm sorry. You have something to say? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I miss you. Really? Are Were you closing? Were you getting ready to close the meeting? Yeah.

Okay. I I just have one quick announcement. Okay. Um, really quick, uh, um, I wanted to thank staff for the Halloween weekend, Halloween weekend. It was a great event. Um, really like the, uh, trunk or treat going on. And also, um, I've started I'm starting my, uh, my my talks with Tony series. Uh, so every weekend from 10:25 to every Saturday from 10:25 to 11:15, I've got a couple different parks that I'll be at from 9:30 to 11:30. love to hear uh any input or questions that you have. Come on out and talk to me. Thank you. Thank you. And no one else had anything.

So yeah, so Bobby Spiegel had notified me that Ken Cam Camire had died. And Tom, you're going to say a couple words about him. Thank you, mayor. Uh Sylvia, if you could put up the picture. This is a photo of Ken Camire at Corona High School back in the 50s. He lived to be 90 plus years old as the mayor and Bobby Spiegel let us know today. He passed away this evening. Uh Kim Camire is a legend and I think many people in this city believe that he is a legend and I believe he is a legend. He spent 50 years as a landscape architect. He was a professor of landscape architecture at UCLA. He was an Eagle Scout. He uh he was the landscape architect of record for do the dos logos community the the buildout

he was a parks director here. Um my wife and I had a chance to go meet with Ken quite a few times over the years and spend time up at his house which is kind of like a ranch or just a massive amount of property. And uh he was just the kindest man. and he would talk for hours and he was intriguing and he was he was just a good man. He loved the city. He loved Corona and uh I just want to honor him. Wasn't he part of painting the dam? His son was uh the one of the one of two original designers of the dam mural. Got it. Thank you. The far right the far

the far right. All right. This meeting is going to be adjourned. We will be coming back to city council on November 5th at 6 pm. Night night.