City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We'll call this this meeting to order. Uh this is the city des Hot Springs regular meeting of the city council and the city council serving as the successor agency to the former redevelopment agency board for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. This is our close PM close. This is our close session at 5:00 p.m. Roll call, please. Council member Pittz, present. Council member V, present. Council member Voss present. Mayor Prom Garner present. And Mayor Madison present. I don't see anybody in the audience. No public comments. Uh madam city attorney, would you announce close session?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members of council, we have one item on for close session. Conference of legal council involving the city as a member of a JPA joint powers authority pursuant to California government code section 54956.96. We will be discussing information received in close session of the JPA.

We are in recess. Good evening everyone. Tonight uh is uh our city council meeting, but during our city council meetings, we have a presentation period and we have some individuals that are here tonight to graduate a couple of our programs. And so it's an honor tonight as mayor to invite up some of our city staff. So would those members like to come up with me and they're going to help present some uh recognitions for those who went through these programs. So the first program first program we're going to talk about is future leaders and this is uh very close to my heart is when I was first elected um I put together a student government council type of program for a couple years and it's a lot of work and so uh Robera came to me a couple years back and said I wanted to revive this and make it more and so I'm going to let her explain the pro program and talk about uh who's gone through this program.

Yes, thank you. Good evening. Um so last year we started our future leaders program and it is facilitated by myself, Emily Haker and Gerald Soraniano. Um so I am really excited tonight to present our 2025 future leader graduates. Um so this year we welcomed an outstanding group of 11 students which is our largest class yet. So over the past several weeks these students have taken a deep dive into how their city works. They explored all of our departments, learned about leadership and communication, and experienced firsthand what it means to be involved in local government. Um, so each each um person selected their favorite department and they actually got to draft their own staff report and got to participate in a mock city council meeting. So they got a true feel for what decisionmaking process is. So tonight um we're excited that you're actually here at a real council meeting. [snorts] Um so we are incred incredibly proud of each and every one of them. They showed up with curiosity, enthusiasm, and a willingness to step outside their comfort zones. Their questions, ideas, and engagement reminds us why investing in our youth is so important. So, as we celebrate this year's graduates, we're we're excited to see this program become a true Desert Hot Springs tradition, one that continues to grow, inspire, and create opportunities for the young leaders of our community. So, I'm going to pass this over to Gerald, and then we are going to call each and every one of you up. Um, and I want you guys to, if you're comfortable, tell um, the city council and the members of our community what your favorite part of the program was.

Thank you, Robera. I just have some quick remarks. So, as we we are honored to recognize the exceptional talents and potential of our future leaders, um as you continue to develop your skills and contribute to our community, know that your efforts are not only seen but deeply appreciated. So, congratulations to each of you and thank you for your particip participation and dedication. [applause]

Okay. So, um, Miguel Roas Pantoa and he selected Come on up. Um, he selected our public works department. [applause] Congratulations. Do you want to say what your favorite part was?

You don't have to. No. Okay. [laughter] You You can stay up here. Um, Abel Dele Leon, no, not here. Okay. Abel, um, also picked public works. Clover Valverie, and Clover um, [applause] picked our city clerk department. So, congratulations, Vanessa Cescaros. [applause] and she picked our HR department. Congratulations. Um Sarah told me she couldn't make it. So Sarah Singh um was actually in recreation and community services. Elizabeth Robz uh also picked the city clerk department. Congratulations, [applause] Yasmin. Leon Diaz also picked the city clerk department. [applause] Congratulations. Tanya Merl, not here. She picked recreation and community services. Jasmine Hernandez [applause] picked public works. Did you want to say anything? Okay. Um, my favorite part of being in this program was being able to draft a staff report with my with Raul and Daniel and Judith from the

engineering department. And also being able to learn how the city runs and how it works because it's all behind the scenes, all the things that they that the city does for us every day that we don't get to see. A thank you. [applause] Anyone? No. No. Oh, this. Sorry. Okay, I forgot. Hi guys. Um, my favorite part of this program was meeting all three of them, especially Mr. Gerald. He's my favorite one. Oh, and and Miss Robera and [laughter] Miss Emily. It's Emily. Emily. I also liked uh learning more about like how the city works and stuff. Thank you. Thank you, Clover. [applause]

Heroes are favors, too. [laughter] My favorite part of the program was the one-on-one with the um with the mentor. I think it really showed the problems that we have in our city and I think it showed a way we could like bring a solution. So, thank you Gerald [applause] Lette Bernell Mareno [applause] and she was in our police department. Did you want to say something? Okay.

Hello. Uh, my favorite part of the program was just being here and having new experiences and like working with the police department and just learning more and like how they said before just uh how to you finding a problem and learning how to fix it. So, I thank all of them for this new experience. [applause] and Walker Craraven. Walker was in our finance department. [applause] Did you want to say something? Okay, go ahead.

I just I really enjoyed working uh one-on-one with the departments and I enjoyed working my time with Mr. Buckheim in the administrative services part. I just really enjoyed all of this. So, thank you. [applause] So um I I guess I forgot to mention that um when when the students pick their department, we assign them to a person in that department. So they have a mentor um and they mentor them and help them write their staff report. So um congratulations again to our 2025 future leader graduates. What we did for each of the graduates is we'll give them a certificate recognizes their participation in the program. And Robera failed to say that since you're here tonight, you have to take over for the city council and run the meeting. Which one of you want to be the mayor? [laughter] We got Yeah, I like it. Just joking. That's great.

You guys city their city council meeting go as smoothly as ours? [laughter] You guys want to get in? No. No. You got everybody in there? Yes. Um, Miss Pie. Yes. All right. One, two, three. Perfect. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you. Thank you. And now Miss Emily is going to take over as we talk about our civics academy. [applause]

Hi everyone. Good evening. My name is Emily Haker and I'm here tonight to honor a group of residents that I've had the pleasure of working with this fall. The third graduating class of the Desert Hot Springs Civics Academy. Yay. [applause] The Desert Hot Springs Civics Academy was first was the first of its kind in the Coachella Valley. Since introducing the course in 2022, other cities in the valley have followed suit and have started their own civic engagement programs. The purpose of Civics Academy is to educate, engage, and inform. There's often a perceived divide between the public and the government, and this course is designed to bridge that gap. Our free educational program teaches residents about local government on a non-political level. You get the chance to interact with city departments to learn about projects and programs, discuss hot topics, and learn effective ways to communicate with city staff. It is also a way to provide or to address common myths, misconceptions, and misinformation. My goal is to provide residents with factual knowledge they can use to their benefit and in turn educate their families, friends, and neighbors, maybe have a little debate over Facebook or something, you know. Over the course of seven weeks, participants met on Wednesday evenings to learn about the city manager's office, the city clerk, community development and economic development, public works, Riverside County Division of CalFire, administrative services, recreation and community services, code and cannabis compliance, and police. Our department heads and staff gave an overview of their functions and how they serve our residents. They discussed the best ways to address issues, questions, and concerns. Each session included a presentation period and a time for questions and answers. I say this every year, but I honestly learned so much more every single time.

This is a team effort, and I want to thank our city staff that put so much work into their sessions. I would also like to thank the mayor and city council for your support of this program. Lastly, I want to thank my graduates. You were all engaging, respectful, and fun to hang out with over the last couple months. [applause and cheering] [applause] When I call your name, I will try not to butcher them. Please come up and get your certificate and then you can stand behind me. Alberto Gonzalez. [applause]

Here you go. Thank you so much. Come on. Thank you. [laughter] [snorts]

Angelica Fuentes. [applause] There she is. Thank you. It was a pleasure. Katherine Barber, [applause] may you speak? I would love for you to speak. Just wanted to thank Emily because I've done one of these for a county. Oops. He jumps out. He jumps out and and I know how much work it is. So, I just wanted to thank her. So, I brought her a present. [applause] You're welcome. Thank you. Going to get a little teeyed up here. [laughter] Chanel Oette. [applause] Thank you. [music] [laughter]

Connie Slade. [applause] Miss Connie. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. Mr. Courtney Mo, [applause] my friend of yours. my friend of many years. Did you learn something [laughter]

Jasmine Rosario [applause] [laughter] Estrada? [applause] Okay, Mr. Kent Anderson. [applause] Kent has somehow managed to finagle his way twice through Civics Academy. [laughter] Did he not pass your first? [laughter]

Yeah, he failed the first test. Lacy Williams, I saw you, Lacy. There you [applause] are. Pierce Morango. [applause] Pierce always had the best outfits. Thank you. Rebecca Valdez. Where's Rebecca? Oh, there she is. [applause]

[laughter] Ricardo Ramirez. [applause] [applause] Thank you. [laughter] Yolanda Ramos. [applause] [applause]

And last but not least, Julie Diaz. [applause]

Thank you. There you go. Please congratulate these people. They have spent so much time with me over the last couple months [applause] and I appreciate them very much. And right before you take pictures, we want to thank our staff again. Emily brought this program to us. Uh and and she's continued to do it. One of the things she said to me right away was no political figures are involved. And I said, "Good. That's good. I want people to hear from the back end and the people that do the hard work each and every day and what they do to make our city run." So, I hope you learn that that city council is the face and we might make some policies, but these are the real people that make it work. So, thank you for what you've done and thank you for learning about your community.

Appreciate it. The city council will be in recess till 6:00.

Can I have everybody's attention real quick? We had um Can I have everybody's attention real quick? We had one late arrival and we want to make sure we recognize them. Um so I'm going have Robera uh Doria. Doria. Doria. Sorry. I I wanted to make sure um I gave him his his certificate, but Abel Dleon is here. Um so I wanted to make sure he's recognized. So congratulations. Um [applause] and Abel selected public works. Did you want to say what your favorite part of the program was? Okay.

Hello. Um my favorite part of the program is working with the engineers. They're really interesting people and they're really like smart in their own aspect. [clears throat] They're like different personalities, but it's like crazy how they work together. [laughter] Um, I like to thank the associate engineer, um, Raul and the main one, Danny. They're both nice people. And yeah, thank you for the opportunity. [applause] That's it. Thank you. All right. Good evening everybody. I'm going to call this meeting to order. This is the city of Desert Hot Springs regular meeting of the city council and the city council serving as the successor agency to the former redevelopment agency board for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. This is our 6 p.m. regular session. Roll call, please.

Council member Pittz, present. Council member Pie present. Council member Voss present. Mayor Prom Gardner present. And Mayor Medicine present. Our invocation tonight will be given by council member Jampai.

And this is from Reverend Dr. Michael Gos. Last year I recognized a pattern in several relationships. It showed up in painful endings to three endings to three romantic relationships over the last couple of decades. But it was in a ministerial relationship that it really rose to the surface. Someone left my community angry at me. They were not the first, nor will they be the last to do so, I'm sure. But I kept I kept me up for several nights in a row. I realized I needed help uncovering what was going on. I asked my friend, Reverend Dr. Kathy Hearn, to facilitate Marsha Sutton and Lloyd Strong fear to faith exercise. This simple and amazing tool coaches a hidden and false belief from our inconscious mind [clears throat] so we can release it. As part of the exercise, we invited an early memory that is related to our error thought to surface. For me, it was a scene from early childhood where my mother was exasperated by my behavior. The next step is to identify the belief. I came to believe I am damaged and people reject me because of it. Though I had done so much personal work, I never saw this core pattern in my belief system. Now I could see it and release it.

Freedom. A year later I can say I am different. Some deep healing occurred. I share an old skin and now experience a joy in my relationships that is new and so perfectly right. This process of releasing old beliefs is the same for all of us. If we explore and exaccubate them our pain points in the way to our freedom every time I am willing to call forward an old belief that limits my experience of life. I released it and step powerfully into my healing and my freedom.

Thank you very much. Would you please rise? Mr. Nvas, would you lead us in a pledge? Your hand on your heart. 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 liy and justice for all. Madam city attorney, would you report on close session? Thank you. Do we have no reportable action?

This time we'll uh take uh the approval of the agenda. At this time, the city council may amend any orders agenda, approve the consent calendar, remove items from the consent calendar to separate for discussion and action. Would anybody like to remove any items from the consent calendar? Is there anyone in the audience that's here would like to speak on any items on the consent calendars? Items 56 through 9. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda and the consent calendar. I move approval of the agenda and the consent calendar. Motion's been made. Is there a second? I think the dis is now working. You can press second on the DAS.

Anybody press it? Anybody press a second? I think Daniel just did, but I don't think it's I just did it. I don't know if it happened. Okay. Okay. Please vote. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Uh at this time, we'll take public comments. At this time, pursuant to the Brown Act, any person may comment on matters of general interest within the subject matter jurisdiction of city council not listed on the agenda. Under the Brown Act, the city council shall not take action on or discuss matters raised during the public c comment portion of the agenda that are not listed on the agenda. All comments are be directed to the city council. Shall be devoted of any personal attacks. Members of the public are expected to maintain a professional courteous decorum during public comment. I have no blue cards. Is there anybody would like to speak on items not on the agenda tonight? I see nobody coming forth. Last call. There will be a time period at the end if anybody does want to make any general public comments that you can come back and make those. We'll close public comments at this time. We'll move to the city manager report.

Thank you. Good evening. Excuse me. Good evening, mayor, city council. Uh first I'd like to have Robera Cernick, our recreation and community services director, provide updates on recreation activities in the community. Good evening. Um, I just want to announce um that everyone is invited to our annual parade of lights and holiday festival next Saturday. I can't believe it's here. December 13th um from 5:45 to 10 10:00 p.m. The parade starts at Palm and Mission Lakes and makes its way down to Palm and Second Street. And immediately following we will have our festival. Um, we will have free photos with Santa, delicious food vendors, live music, and a night full of family fun. We're also offering free carnival rides, free face painting, and free cotton candy for everyone to enjoy. Um, so please mark your calendars and celebrate with us as we make this holiday season one to remember. And we look forward to seeing everyone there. Thank you.

Thank you, Roberta. Next, I'd like to ask our deputy city manager, Christina Newsome, to provide us with animal care and control updates.

Good evening, mayor and city council. Since my last update, animal care and control has seen positive outcomes with four successful adoptions and three animals sent to rescue. We also held a private adoption event at the Springs Country Club on November 29th, which really helped raise awareness and engagement in our community. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our long-term volunteer, Tracy, who helps to arrange that event every year. Tonight, we're excited to have Polly with us in the audience. She's a playful 2-year-old shepherd mix who has been waiting for her forever home since December of last year. We're hoping she can spend the Christmas with a loving family. Polly knows her basic obedience commands, is friendly with other dogs, and would thrive in an active home. Plus, she looks adorable in a Christmas sweater. If anyone is interested in adopting Polly, please contact City Hall.

Thank you, Christina, and thank you, Tyler and Paulie. Uh, that concludes our updates tonight. Thank you very much. We're going to move to C. I apologize. That does not [laughter] I I am on a roll every [clears throat] time. I'd like to ask our police of uh our police chief uh Steven Shaw to give an update on an event that occurred.

Thank you. I just want to do a shout out. Um on November the 19th, the uh Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce hosted the 27th annual Police Officer and Public Safety Awards lunchon. So, just a shout out to some uh team members from the police department. Uh we had a patrol team of the year receive an award. Uh Sergeant Jason Gimenez, Corporal Anthony Estrada, Corporal Travis Marshall, Dispatcher Megan Miller, and Dispatcher Annabelle Terzas received the patrol team of the year award. And I won't go into the lengthy detail, but uh they received this award for an event that took place over the summer uh of a drowning of a one-year-old child. Um some some 911 calls came into the dispatch center. Uh that our dispatchers um were not able to get any information from the callers. Uh there were several that were just hangup calls, but they recognized that there was an emergency taking place. We were able to capture the location where there was at so immediately dispatched officers. not knowing what they were going to be walking into. And what it ended up being was a one-year-old child drowning that took place at a family function at a house there. Officers responded um and immediately began life-saving measures. And I'm very happy to announce that the child made a full recovery um from that incident. So, we wanted to take time uh then at the at this award ceremony and then tonight just a shout out for those officers and the great work they did on that incident. So, thank you.

[applause] Not going to make this a habit, but this really does conclude my updates. Do you want to think about it one last time? I think I got it this time. All right. We'll move to mayor and council member comments. Um, Mr. Pittz.

All right. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and city council members. This is my city council update for December 2nd, 2025. On November 19th, we celebrated our Desert Hot Springs Police Department. Thank you, DHS Police, for your dedicated service. We honored our local heroes, police officers, sheriff deputies, and disp dispatchers who are recognized throughout our Coachella Valley, including right here in our beautiful city of Desert Hot Springs. The event took place at the stunning AO Coliente in Rancher Barrage and was hosted by Talian Hayden of NBC Palm Springs. guests enjoyed a delicious lunch and an opportunity to celebrate the achievements alongside our elected officials respected chief of police and department leadership. Uh just as the chief just referenced, the Desert Hot Springs Police Patrol Team of the Year was awarded recognized. I'm not going to name the names, we just did that, but congratulations to all of them and thank you for your service and keeping us safe. So on November 23rd, we proudly celebrated our brand new farmers market. We are thrilled to welcome this fantastic addition to our vibrant city. The mayor, city council members, and farmers market manager Lindseay Jordan attended this amazing ribbon cutting ceremony. I had the pleasure of catching up with Lindsay to discuss the market and I've shared my interview on my Facebook page. She is just as excited and brings an official farmers market to our community. She's elated, in fact. So, go check that out if you haven't. We just did a soft opening recently and there's more obviously to come. So, where is this, you ask? It's located on Pearson Boulevard at the same site, our new Desert Nights on the Boulevard takes place. So, both Desert Nights on the Boulevard and the Farmers Market will take place twice a month. To learn more about these amazing events and their

schedules, please visit our city's website. Okay. In animal advocacy, we have some great news. I am proud to announce that Senate Bill 221 has officially been signed into law by Governor Nuome. I have been closely monitoring various state assembly and senate bills that impact our local communities and California residents. As an animal advocate and local policy maker who endorsed Senate Bill 221, I am thrilled to share that this important legislation aimed at protecting stalking victims and their pets was signed into law October 9th, 2025, but it will actually take effect on January 1st, 2026. SB221 was authored by Senator Rosie Bow and co-sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and also the Riverside County District um district attorney's office. So what is SB221 about? Most Americans consider their pets family with a significant majority of women regarding their pets as important as human relatives. This highlights how easily stalkers can instill fear and control over their victims by threatening their beloved animals. Research also shows that violence against animals is directly linked to violence against people. This law will help mitigate the emotional toll that stalking inflicts on victims while also preventing potential physical violence against both animals and humans. Thank you, Senator Bo and Governor Nuomo. Okay, switching gears. We are so excited and Roberta actually just just announced on this as well that we're going to be having our parade of lights and holiday festival. It's coming up next Saturday the 13th, December the 13th at 5:45. The parade will kick off the top of Mission Lake. She spoke to this. Um, come out and join us. It's a great time. It's

going to be my second time in this parade and uh it's just a fun time to to come together. It's great for the whole family. Like she said, there's going to be a tree lighting ceremony, pictures with Santa Claus, delicious food, and a lot of it's also going to be free. Free carnival rides, free face painting, free cotton candy, and more. So, come out and enjoy that with us. And Mr. Merritt, that concludes my update. Thank you very much. Not everything is free. Not everything is free. I made that mistake. Roberto looked at me one time and I've [sighs] had to clarify that every time. But he did talk about the right free stuff, right? Everything but the food. Okay, good. Mayor Protown.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um the uh as mentioned by the chief and uh and my colleague, Mr. Pittz, we all went to the public safety awards and you know, we are so proud of our police department and all of the hard work that they do keeping the community safe, lowering our crime rate. It was a great event as always and it was great to honor uh our patrol team. Also, the ribbon cutting for the uh for the farmers market. Uh nice, bright, and early, beautiful Sunday morning. The next one will be on December 25 first because we have an odd schedule this month with all of the other holiday events. And lastly, we had to visit Greater Palm Springs JPA, which I serve on their annual Champions of Hospitality Award dinner. It's sort of like the Academy Awards for the hospitality industry. DHS had a number of nominees. Azure Palm Hotring Resort, Two Bunch Palms, Spring Resort, and Seek Staffing were all nominated for awards. We had two winners. Melanie Kones from the spring one for Boutique Hotring Spa category. And Taran GL of Azure Palms won in the retail category. There's the two of them up there getting their awards. So, congratulations to all the nominees and winners, you know, being part of what makes Desert Hot Springs such a great place. It's all I've got. Spy,

thank you. Um, one thing, do the right thing. This month it was Emerson Monttoa Rox from Desert Hot Springs High School. Emerson is truly a remarkable young man that is deserving of his recognition. Emerson's family has recently gone through a tough patch. And instead of blaming others or feeling helpless, Emerson has stepped into help his family by selling bread and other items after school to help ends meet. Though struggling with some medical concerns of his own, Emerson has still stayed very active in school. Being part of our school soccer program and part of our MJC pathway, Emerson should be recognized for his grit, perseverance, and love, and dedication to his family. We are very proud of you, Emerson, and am more than proud to call you a golden eagle, and I and chief staff were there um to help congratulate him. That ends my report,

Mr. Boss. Sir,

so I too attended the November 19th uh the peace officer public safety awards. It's always pretty cool and great to see our Desert Hot Springs folks be recognized at that um you [clears throat] know with that and and to see the just the camaraderie amongst the group and everything and I think a lot of the people there kind of gravitate towards them as well as you can kind of see uh that was there but that was really good to see on the 19th also later that day um I had my airport commission meeting and uh just for knowledge for the rest of the council on the 16th of this month the airport commission is going to be doing their strategic planning session. If you have any suggested ideas, thoughts or anything like, hey, do you want to bring something up or what about this or whatever, feel free to email me direct. And um, you know, it's it's an opportunity where I can, you know, if there's something that you thought, hey, I got a thought or something that's connected, you know, can bring it forward on behalf of us. And on the 21st at Joshua Springs Calvary Church in Yucka Valley, I attended their annual prayer breakfast where uh the electeds and it's predominantly up there. It's for uh the public safety people. It's kind of the EMS staff when the sheriff's department, paramedics, fire, but also uh the different electeds and appointed officials and what have you. And it's nice. I get invited because I happen to go to that church of course and but there is um a lot of people there that um believe that there's a better nexus with our city of Desert Hot Springs and they're trying to work with different things through tourism and travel and these things. And so it's always nice to be present there and have Desert Hot Springs be recognized as part of the group. And then today before I came here to our meeting today, I attended the Palm Springs their state of the city address at the convention center. Uh was very informative. Um a lot of good things of what's going on

over there, of course, but it's informative. It's nice for us. It's on the west end of the valley. It's nice to know kind of what they're doing. And with that and uh the presentation I had sent to Emily and I believe she probably sent that out to all the council members and some of the other staff. So you'll get an idea of what was in that. And that's it.

Thank you [snorts] very much. And my report will be short. Um I did attend the farmers market grand opening. This is going to be uh the day after each of our Saturday night events. Uh so if you didn't have a chance, uh I believe I took a picture and put it on my Facebook of the dates coming up. But uh go participate. It was great. It's small this time, but it's going to grow. Lindsay uh Jordan who uh grew up here in Desert Hot Springs, went off to culinary school and has done a few things in her life and came back and she's now uh running this program for the Palm Springs Culture Center and they uh they have these uh farmers markets and they're here in Desert Hot Springs now. I was able to get a bag of uh really nice vegetables and fruits. So, please go out and support it if you can. Um, I did attend the Cout Valley Association of Government's Executive Committee yesterday. Uh, there was a joint committee meeting with the homelessness committee, a closed session that we cannot report on at this time, and then there was items that didn't directly pertain to Desert Hot Springs, so I won't bore you with any of the details. And that was my activities for the last couple weeks. Uh, with that said, we're going to move to the agenda. And first item is our public hearing. Item number two, it's AB1600 annual report, development impact fees and resolution making findings and reaffirming the necessity of certain development impact fees. Mr. Buckeye.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Uh, our finance analyst, Vivana Osorio Gonzalez, will be doing the staff report tonight.

Good evening, Mayor and members of council. This is a public hearing to review and accept the annual AB1600 report on development impact fees for fiscal year 2425 and to adopt the resolution of the city council making findings and reaffirming the necessities of certain develop development impact fees. So a little overview, the city collects development impact fees to help cover the cost of new facilities, infrastructure, and equipment needed as the community grows. These fees support areas such as fire facilities, park improvements, streets and traffic signals, bridges, general facilities, law enforcement facilities and equipment, the community center, the aquatic center, and storm drainage upgrades. [laughter] Okay. So for fiscal year 2425 the beginning fund balance was 2,384935. The city collected a total of 5,963,156 in development impact fees and spent 277,256 on approved projects. The total ending fund balance as of 6:30 2025 for these funds was 8,7,835. AB1600 further requires that the city make certain findings as to any portion of impact fees deposited into any impact fee account that remains unspent after 5 years. In the case of the law enforcement facilities fund, the city continued to hold all revenues collected in the in this fund. No purchases or project expenditures occurred within the fiscal year. For the aquatic center fund, it also

remained in a savings posture for fiscal year 24-25 with no expenditures made during the year. Funds are being accumulated to support future improvements at the Wardman Park community pool and the health and wellness aquatic center splash pad expansion. These capital needs are driven by increased residential development and are intended to maintain compliance with the facility standards outlined in the in the master's facilities plan. The annual AB600 report was also shared with the Desert Valley Builders Association, also also known as the DVBA and was posted on the city website for review. DVBA submitted questions about future projects funded by these fees and staff provided responses. In their reply, which is attached to the staff report, DVBA agreed with most of the city's explanations, but disagreed with using impact fees for two upcoming projects, which was the fire diff project addressing the ADA needs at fire station 37 and the parks diff project for Worman Park Improvements. They also raised additional questions about future uses of the law enforcement uh development impact fees. Staff is preparing responses to these items. Before starting the projects in question, the city will re-evaluate project funding and confirm whether these impact fees are the appropriate source. Staff recommends the adoption of the resolution of the city council making findings and reaffirming the necessity of certain development impact fees. And this concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much. At this time, we'll ask city council, do you have any specific questions to staff? See nobody coming forth. We'll open the public hearing at this time and take any testimony in favor, opposed, or neutral position. Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council and staff. Um, James Brownard, Desert Valley's Builders Association. I am recently promoted to the executive officer's position as Gretchen Gutierrez has moved out of the state to take on another challenge with larger staff and a much better budget

and to be close to her grandchildren. So, um I appreciate uh what Miss Gonzalez uh stated with regards to the issues we've had and she has pointed them out. um you your your staff does a great job. I I appreciate that they are forthcoming and they respond quickly uh to my questions and I try to respond quickly back. Um the responses were adequate for most everything except for two or three occasions. Um mitigation fee act funds are only to be used as development impact fees are to be used for expanding capacity um increasing the facilities to meet the needs of the growing population. Um and with le recent legislation and case law, the standard is the current quality of life and to maintain that is what you are allowed to charge and what you guys are allowed to expend those monies on. So within the our November 20th letter are some challenges and one is the ADA improvements that we believe should have been done as needed and as the law has changed over the years. Uh second was about the pools. You cannot use development impact fees to rehabilitate to repair uh maintain uh existing facilities. That is the burden of the existing population that actually used it for a number of decades and now is responsible for it repair. more than able to use the development

impact fees for another pool or to expand that for the additional capacity needed because of the growing community. Um I asked a bunch of questions with regards to public safety that is mostly online with if you're expanding your police department and your personnel, they're appropriate. I just want to know what the numbers are. So that's all I had to say. Um I look forward to the city's responses and you know at this point in time it's more of a future situation and um so far you're meeting your obligations showing that uh existing funds that were are not being expended at the moment are encumbered for future projects. So that's all I had to say. If you have any questions,

thank you sir. Do we have any other comments or um testimony for uh oppos in opposition? Opposed or in favor? All right, we're going to close public hearing this time and we'll go back to city council discussion. Any specific questions? Any comments from staff? I have a question. Yes.

I need some education on this. our uh population is expanding and we've had stuff in reserve um for a long time and now it's saying we we can't have those things in reserve. But if our population is growing with the say with the pools and with public safety then why why not so diffs are used for expansion projects and so um I think that that is where the clarifying questions are coming into play. So I think what's important to note at this point is and I'm going to use Boardman Park as an example. There is a previous pool that was there. the future project isn't necessarily going to be a pool and I think those are the types of questions that we need to answer for James and for DV DVBA and then in the longer term um as as Viviana had mentioned in her staff report um as these projects materialize and come forward we would then do an evaluation with staff as to whether or not those diff fees could be used for those types of expansion projects that is an appropriate use of diff funds don't know if that exactly answers your question, but

there were diff funds already in reserves prior to this. So, are you saying we can't use those? No. And Jeffrey, if you want to kind of hone in a little bit more.

Yes. So, be um with um for diffs are supposed to be expended within 5 years of being received. Um if not, then you know they have to basically given back. Um but we can or make a finding saying that um like we've done before like for for the aquatic center saying that what we receive in diff funds we're basically basically we say finding we're saving up money for these projects because they cost a lot more and it's going to take us a while to collect that much in in the diff fees. So um while we're supposed to spend them within a certain time period, we can we we also make a finding saying okay well we are saving them we can't spend it because the projects the approved projects cost a lot more than what we've been collecting what we've collected over 5 years because um it it you know depending on development it could take a while and costs are costs have gone up there you know kind of instructions construction especially with um redoing the fire the fire station 37 or something refurbishing or redoing Wardman Park either to include a pool or not to include a pool, something different. It takes a while to those are rather extensive projects and it takes a while to collect the the the money for it.

And so we can use those. Yes, we can use them, but we can only use them we can't use them for um regular maintenance and repairs. uh like for instance for the fire station 37 we can't use them for the ADA compliance but we can use it for the expansion of that. So when we do the exp so when we do the expansion of the fire station and we will include ADA compliance in there we will have to use other funding as well as the diff funds for that ADA compliance. So, we can keep it and spend it, but just spend it on what is uh we legally required to do. So, we're Okay. Yes. You good?

I'm good. Anyone else have questions? All right. All right. I'll move that we accept the uh findings for AB 1600's annual report development impact fee resolution. Is there a second? I'll second. No further discussion. Please vote. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. We'll move to the administrative calendar. Item number three is hotel and spa incentive program. Miss WS.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Uh tonight I'm providing an overview of the proposed updates to our hotel and spa incentive program. An effort that directly supports the city's strategic plan area focus number two for the hotel and spa zone. Uh that goal is to double the city's transient occupancy tax revenue over the next 10 years. As [snorts] we all know, tourism and hospitality are core to our local economy. Our natural hot mineral water and the growing wellness tourism market make Desert Hot Springs unique. To support this industry, the city council launched the spa revitalization incentive program in 2021. [clears throat] The goal was to encourage renovations of older spa hotels by offering transient uh occupancy tax or toot waiverss. However, since 2021, only one property, the Desert Hot Springs Inn, was able to utilize the incentive. That low participation uh told us that the program wasn't meeting the needs of today's market and needed to be re-evaluated. As part of the strategic plan action item D2, uh which specifically directs us to review and update this program to better attract hotel development, uh staff worked with the city council subcommittee that included uh council members uh PI and gardener and identified three things that uh were consistently heard from property owners and developers. One, the program needs broader eligibility, so more types of accommodations could qualify. Two, incentives should be tied to meaningful improvements that truly increase tourism demand. And three, uh we need to dedicate uh we need a dedicated incentive pathway for groundup hotel development, which would be essential for the long-term growth. With that direction in mind, the revised program includes several key updates. One, a

program name change. The subcommittee recommends renaming the spa revitalization incentive program to the hotel and spa incentive program. This name change would better reflect the expanded scope supporting both traditional hotels and spa-based properties which would also include groundup new construction. two, for non-operational hotel and spa properties, uh the incentive is actually being recommended to stay the same. Uh that previous incentive was 100% TOOT waiver for 2 years or up to the total cost of investment, whichever occurs first. The big caveat to that though is for the city staff to do better marketing of this program. Uh that was one of the things that we identified um as part of this effort is that much more could have been done from a staff perspective to market out this program. And so keep the incentive the same but really do some strategic marketing to make sure that the information is getting out there and it actually is perfect timing because as part of the strategic plan uh council did want staff to hire a dedicated liaison to really help bolster and achieve this strategic goal. Um and so we have a dedicated liaison which is race. You all know him and have met him. And so that this will him and Joselyn uh will be key to really getting out there and getting the word spread far and wide about this in incentive program. Um this uh keeping this the same would continue to support uh reopening of the dormant properties uh which is an ongoing priority in the hotel and spa zone and was one of the original nexuses for bringing this uh program forward. Uh item three for operational property there are some updated uh requirements there. Uh so the recommendation is for operation of hotels and spas uh would be required uh to include at least one of

several key upgrades that directly support uh the tourism demand. So, under the previous program for operational spa properties, uh they would would have been able to um do improvements at their property there there was not a requirement for what those improvements needed to be. Um but the marker was that they could then qualify submit all of their supporting documents to receive basically the mark change in their toot uh for two years or up to the cost of reinvestment. Um we are now recommending that there be caveats put on that and requirements put on that and so these would be the requirements. Uh one would be adding new guest rooms uh which would directly result in an increased uh toot creating conference or event space, adding spa service rooms or outdoor spa areas, building or expanding a restaurant or adding retail or gift shop space. Um again for these properties the incentive would be a 100% waiver of the net increase in tot for 2 years or up to the cost of the investment. Uh this would ensure that incentives are tied to improvements that will actually generate more visitors more toot and or more sales tax. Uh four this is the star of the show for this one. This is the newest addition which is the ground up hotel or spa development being added to this program. Uh so for the first time the subcommittee is proposing an incentive structure for new hotel or spa construction. Uh this would be an essential component if we want to strengthen our hospitality sector and remain competitively uh competitive regionally. So uh for this incentive the waiver would be phased out over six years. Years 1 through two would include a 100% waiver of toot. Years three and

four would be a 50% waiver of Toot and Years five and six would be a 25% waiver of Toot. Uh this structure would give new development support when they need it most while encouraging long-term operation. The application process and conditions uh would remain consistent with the previous process. Uh submittal of an application, they would need to ensure that they're obtaining the proper building permits. their properties need to be clear of any code enforcement violations in order to qualify. Um, and as true with the previous program, uh, the city manager would be able to, um, approve incentives up to $100,000. Anything over $100,000 would need to also complete an economic development subsidy report that would come before the city council for approval. Um, there are some other small, you know, conditions that would remain. I'm trying to kind of encapsulate the bulk of them. Uh but these would include monthly TOT reporting, maintaining TOT compliance for operational properties and then um also uh termination of incentives if the property is sold or stops operating as a hotel or spa. Um in conclusion, overall the revised hotel and spa incentive program uh would be another avenue to fulfill strategic plan action item D2. It modernizes an underused incentive, expands opportunities for reinvestments, and actively supports new hotel development. Uh, these changes would help us grow our TOT base, attract higher quality lodging options, and strengthen the long-term s uh s sorry, sustainability of our tourism industry. Uh by aligning incentives with real economic outcomes, we can ensure the city's financial exposure never exceeds verified private investment while still boosting long-term revenues through

better properties, more rooms, and stronger visitor demand. Uh that concludes uh my presentation. Um obviously we have the subcommittee here, C uh Mayor Prom Gardner and Council Member Pi. We are happy to answer any questions. the subcommittee like to say anything before we open up to questions?

Um, just real quick, thank you for that report, Dory. You did a great job writing it out. Um, this has been something that Miss Pi and I have been working on for since the first iteration of it, and it is very important to both of us and to the whole city. And I I really really like this version of it. you know, um, one of the things you you learn over the course of this job is that sometimes you try something that doesn't quite work. So, the first round of this didn't quite work the way we thought it would. So, we came up with uh with these proposals. And what I particularly like about this one is the actual list of things that would qualify them for. The first time around it was, you know, if you paint the room, you know, then we had people bringing paint receipts and stuff and that was getting burdensome for staff. And the key was to always It has to be something that would increase to. So if your room was $100 a night and you raised it to 120 because of the renovation, well then that increased TOT, right? Well, we it was really hard to prove that. But the stuff that we have in the list now is actual concrete evidence that will increase toot. So it'll be much easier for staff to do that. And one thing we didn't do before was incentivize new hotels. And you know, we have a couple of people with some potential um um freeway type hotels that are coming in down along the 10. This would also incentivize that, especially if we uh can get them over off of the Palm Drive side as too. So, I would hope my uh my colleagues would support this. Uh I think it's a great program and and the thing to remember, especially for our residents, is that we are not giving any money away in this. If we have a non-performing or a non-existing asset that isn't generating any tax revenue right now, we can forego a year or two of tax revenue in order to have a high-erforming asset a couple of years down the road. So, we're not giving any

direct subsidies out, but what we are is deferring income that isn't there now for another couple of years. So, I really like that for both of these things. So, you want to add anything? No. All right. All right, we'll open it to public for public comments. Anybody like to make any public comments? See nobody coming forth. We'll close public comments at this time and I'll defer to the council. Did you have comments?

Go ahead. Okay. Uh I appreciate the hard work of the subcommittee. Um a lot of finer detail in here and the expansive list of some of the items as what was mentioned down by the freeway. We've had people, you know, already inquire about that, ranging from event conference space to different hotels, and I'm certain that we'll get a minimum of two, probably upwards of four different style of hotels in that whole area down there at some point. Um, [clears throat] the other factor, of course, is this is citywide, which is great, too. I did, you know, we did get a a message from somebody uh in reference to um nonoperational properties and I see that we put the two years here. Um I [snorts] understand maybe the reasoning for that. I I personally would support going as much as 5 years for that. And here's the reason why is operation is operation. You know what the income is. You know what the revenues are. You know what the upkeep is. You know what you're going you know what's behind the wall, right? nonoperational, you don't really kind of know. There's not a marketing history. There's not the time frame with that. You don't know what's behind the wall. You don't know what was buried and over here and there until they actually get into that and by the time they start digging around. Uh and then we have to kind of look at from a code enforcement perspective is some of those just sit staged, right? So then do we force it into a code enforcement or receiverhip? Or if we're incentivizing it three additional years, is this somebody that's going to say, "Hey, I'm going to be willing to do this, but I got to gut the building a little bit more because it there was a mold problem behind the walls and or it wasn't operational and I'm going to have to add two additional or four additional units or what have you to make the revenues make sense, you know, that kind of thing." So I think a little bit of flexibility on those. Still everything else is the same. The only difference we go from two to five. That would be the only change that I would recommend on

that. Yes sir. So first of all, great work committee for putting this together and staff. Um I concur with what uh Councilman Boss had said on this. Um but but I think the product now I see us approving it and I see that there's also opportunities maybe later to do some workarounds and maybe it hands it but the the way it is now I I'm going to vote to move forward with it. And I think Doria did you want to

Well, I didn't want to put the cart too far ahead of the horse, but if this was something that was going to have some dialogue, I was just going to seek some clarification. Um, for the nonoperational hotels, currently it's recommended that it's 2 years 100% waved. So, I wanted to find out from council member Voss if he was suggesting that they go to more of that tiered structure. Uh, that uh would be for groundup construction, which is the 100%, the 50%, the 25%. Correct. Okay. Not not 100% waved for that long. It'd be tiered. The only difference is everything's the same. The only difference is two to five tiered. Everything's the same. Okay.

Yep. Mr. Gardner, um I appreciate your your thought, Mr. Voss, and and you make a valid point. Um it's not something that we studied while we were doing it, and we ran a bunch of numbers while we were doing all of this. And I think this is is very doable. There are uh there's only a handful of the non-operational ones and then we have some like the old Hyundai which I believe has other issues that uh with their development uh agreement that are different than what would be that whether that would consider be considered a non-operational costbar or not. Um you know I would like to leave it right now the way it is and if we're not getting any bites at it then we can certainly come back and and re-evaluate it at that time. And I failed to say Mr. Vosard referred to an email that we received through the city clerk's office. Uh so I wanted to say that we didn't receive that email.

Any comments, Miss Pie? You said something and you said something. I'm just going to cut it short. Which means we need to leave it the way it is. Period. What you're saying is leave it the way it is, but consider what he what Mr. Boss is proposing for the future. I that's possible for the future. I I'm opposed to changing it now. Okay. Any other comments or questions? I'll entertain a motion. I'll move the uh ordinance as proposed. Second. Once comes on the screen, please vote.

Motion passes unanimously. very much. We'll move to item number four, vacation rental regulation amendments. Miss Newsome.

Good evening, mayor and city council. Uh, this presentation proposes regulations to our current vacation rental regulations. So, the proposed amendments to the vacation rental regulations are in line with the city's strategic plan goals. area of focus 2 for hotel spa zones and area of focus 11 for financial and operations. In the last three rounds of amendments to vacation rental regulations, the city council formed a vacation rental subcommittee. The current vacation rental subcommittee is comprised of Mayor Prom Gary Gardner and Councilman Daniel Pittz. This subcommittee is responsible for consulting with staff, vacation rental property owners, and other relevant stakeholders to discuss potential changes to the regulations. This collaborative approach aims to gather a variety of perspectives on the prop on the potential impacts of the proposed amendments. For background, the last round of vacation rental amendments in 2023 included prohibiting advertisements of vacation rentals without a valid permit, hosting platforms must remove listings within 24 hours if permits are invalid, expired, or revoked, and they will collect and remit applicable transient occupancy tax and T- bid. No bookings can occur for properties without a valid vacation rental permit number. Vacation rentals cannot exceed 4% of the total housing parcels and must be at least 500 ft apart. Permits would be denied if vacation rentals violate HOA regulations. Extensive inspections would be required for vacation rentals, including pool areas, and permits may be denied if the rental is deemed a public nuisance or violates law. The outcome of these regulations are as follows. The prohibition of advertising vacation rentals without a valid permit along with the requirements for hosting platforms to remove listings if permits are invalid, expired, or revoked has resulted in a decrease in unidentified listings by 80%.

Further, capping vacation rentals at 4% of total housing parcels and requiring them to be within a 500 ft radius resulted in a 7% decrease in vacation rental permits. Unfortunately, this is counter to the city strategic goal area focus number two, hotel spa zone goal to double transient occupancy tax in 10 years. Furthermore, the 4% cap on total housing parcels combined with the 500t radius distance requirement has hindered reaching the 4% cap of total housing parcels. As a result of strengthened regulations and enforcement actions, vacation rental violations have substantially decreased across all areas of enforcement. During recent meetings of the vacation rental subcommittee with staff and stakeholders, it is revealed that vacation rentals are continuing to concentrate in specific neighborhoods. These areas known as Hosienda Heights, Rolling Hills, and DHS 41 remain largely unaffected by distance requirements. Additionally, vacation rental property owners lack formal training on city regulations and would benefit from mandatory training to promote responsible vacation rental operations. Furthermore, the city is experiencing a decline in the number of permitted vacation rentals due to the distance requirements, which will result in a decrease in transient occupancy tax revenue. These findings help to generate the proposed vacation rental regulation amendments before the city council this evening. The proposed vacation rental regulation amendments aim to address the identified concerns, including the following. The maintenance of a 500 foot radius distance requirement in designated neighborhoods where the concentration of vacation rentals is deemed excessive. These neighborhoods are commonly known as hosianda heights, rolling hills, and DHS 41, and their boundaries have been added to the ordinance. the reduction of distance requirements within the city to a radius of 200 ft 250 ft from another vacation rental in all other areas of the city. A requirement that all

vacation rental owners must complete a city certified training program focused on responsible vacation rental operations. All vacation rental units must obtain a vacation rental permit regardless of how often they are used, which means that the 10-day exemption has been eliminated. the clarification that vacation rental permits are non-transferable. Should a property be sold or ownership be transferred while a vacation rental permit remains in good standing, the permit shall be immediately revoked. As previously mentioned, the neighborhood commonly referred to as Hosienda Heights will maintain the 500 ft radius distance requirement to mitigate any adverse effects of distance decreasing distance requirements in all other areas of the city. As in the neighborhood commonly referred to as Rolling Hills, pictured here. As in the neighborhood commonly referred to as DHS 41, pictured here. Staff is recommending that the city council approve an ordinance of the city council of the city of Desert Hot Springs amending chapter 5.44 of vacation rental regulations. Again, the proposed amendments to the vacation rental regulations are in line with the city's strategic plan goals. Area focus 2 for hotel spa zones and area focus 11 for financial and operations. That concludes my staff report and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much. Um before we get into questions, let's get public comment on this. Uh if anybody would like to make public comment, please come forth and you'll have the mic and there'll be three minutes on the clock. Please state your name. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and members of the city council. My name is Steve Waters Strap. I live at 66903 Yucka Drive, and I'm here to speak about the uh rental ordinances. I represent U. Miracle Springs Resort and Spa. And we welcome the amendments you're addressing tonight because we think they'll resolve some of the important issues. But we would also uh like to encourage you to uh maybe embrace a broader opportunity with our proposal uh to make Desert Hot Springs a little more competitive and increase the toot revenue uh revenue that you refer to and support the long-term viability of our hotels by adopting hotel vacation rental zones in DHS. Uh we believe that we can increase uh the desiraability of hot desert hot springs as a vacation destination just like some other cities are doing and we can combine uh vacation rental accommodations with the advantages of traditional hotel lodging. Um let's see. We uh we provided each of you a sample ordinance that we wrote up. Uh we were we've been uh significantly impressed with the city of Linta. They've shown how effective their pro uh program is with their hotel vacation rental zones. Um essentially, I guess what we're looking at is, you know, given a little bit of flexibility for short-term vacation rentals if they're within the zone uh of an already existing hotel. Um among the benefits, first of all, parking issues could be virtually eliminated because hotels already have overflow parking available. So, that would solve one of the biggest

concerns, you know, for neighbors. Uh secondly, these zones have a built-in 247 enforcement of city rules. Uh our hotels have a front desk staff that can become the immediate point of contact if there's noise complaints, other other any other rule violations. They'll be right there and would require no additional city staff staffing. Um thirdly, the hotels uh can ensure that the guests understand the rules we're talking about here. every guest checked in can be required to read and sign the city's vacation rental guidelines when they check in and that would we believe improve uh compliance and reduce community impacts. Uh most importantly, we think these hotel supported vacation rental zones would increase the overall marketability of Desert Hot Springs as a vacation destination. we could blend the the privacy and flexibility of vacation rental with the services and amenities uh that traditional hotels can provide. So we think that would be kind of a a hybrid model that could could enhance the uh yeah and the um the vacation rentals. So and you know most importantly for for this meeting you know just like you we would love to see toot go up and increase uh revenue for DHS. So anyway, as I said, we we provided a draft sample to each of you. Yeah, we'd love it if you wanted to adopt that. That's probably not very practical, but we uh ask that you could uh you know, consider this for the future, send it back to staff so that they can study the issue, give recommendations.

Thank you very much. Time's up. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. [clears throat]

Hi, my name is Kent Anderson. Uh, I was uh concerned when I heard the city wanted to change the rules on short-term rentals. Uh, they have been nothing but trouble in my area. I'm in 41. Um, I'm glad you're looking to keep the 500 ft rule in my place. Uh, I like the owners that have to attend a class but feel the phone numbers of responsible parties should be published and sent out to surrounding homes. So that gives us a chance to call to see if they would quiet their people down. Uh enforcement of rules is a big concern. Code doesn't work on weekends and the police don't have time to answer calls for noise. And if they do get them and there's something going on, it's going to be 2 to three hours before they can get there. And that's just the way it is. Uh parking is a big problem. Cars blocking sidewalks and filling our streets. Uh, I can't count how many times I've sent in on the DHS app about parking, but the time someone gets there, they're probably gone or moved it. But when I'm out walking, I can't walk. I have to walk in the street because I can't walk down the sidewalk. Uh, these people don't care. That's why they're here because they don't want to bother their neighbors. Uh, some of the homes uh don't bother to get a license. I've got one behind me that I I can't prove is a short-term rental, but since there's no one at that house Monday through Thursday, and then all of a sudden on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it's full of 10 to 12 people. I'm going to guess, but I can't prove it. But that just seems kind of odd on that thing. I moved here because I like the sense of community here and the quiet. I enjoy sitting in my backyard looking at the mountains, but not

listening to someone's loud music or screams. I know of one person in my neighborhood who has listed their home for sale and two others who are thinking about it. I was part of a strong neighborhood watch, but that is gone. Nobody knows anyone and who belongs and who doesn't. Think about your residents first and visitors second. I want my quiet, peaceful, and safe neighborhood back. That's the reason I came here, not to listen to everybody else yell, scream, and create a hazard. Thank you. Thank you, C. Next speaker.

Yes, it's me. I'm just an awful public speaker, so if you guys will forgive me, I'm bad at it. So, at Miracle Springs, we have villas. Um, and I'm sure you all know know about this. And these villas are adjacent to the hotel. Now, just like this gentleman said, we we've never had a complaint from a neighbor because they all have my phone number. They can call me at any given time if there's a problem. One time someone called me, went over, said, "Hey, you guys got to go." You know, a lot of times they'll book online, right? They would come in and, you know, they'd have a gang of people and we didn't know who they were. We had them sign the paperwork at the front desk. You know, you're only allowed to have 12 people and they sign it willingly full on well knowing they're going to throw a party, but we get rid of them. The police have been nothing but great with us here at Miracle Springs. My god, you guys have been there Johnny on the spot all the time. When we have a big problem, they show up. We really haven't need them in the villas because, you know, we've been good citizens. We police ourselves. We had one problem at the villas at one time. It was real bad. But that's that we've had those villas for 20 years as part of the hotel and we haven't had a problem. All the neighbors have my number. They've called me if there's a problem, but there's never a problem. They come over and get a free dinner once in a while. They, you know, they they're nice people and we all get along. um you're losing about $60 to $100,000 a year in to dot revenue by not having those villas that are directly with the hotel. Um uh long-term rentals are are kind of what we're thinking of. Are we going to just rent these things out now as long-term rentals? I mean, they're right adjacent to the hotel. If we rent them out as long-term rentals, guess what? There's no toot at all. you're losing $100,000, $60 to $100,000 right off the top. Now, there's a a a property that's

there that has two spaces. We'd like to put six of your um what are they called? The the small houses, the ADUs. We'd like to put six there. Let people rent them from the city to see how cool they are. Why don't you put one of these in your backyard? Hey, we've got them here. It's promoting tourism. We get people from all over the world. We get people from Germany, from France, from England. They all stay at our hotel. We tell them the story of the water and this place and what an amazing place it is and they all embrace it. A lot of them come back, but some of them want to come back with their families. But they say, "Oh, no. We don't want to be out there. We don't we don't know. We're going to go to India. We're going to go here. We're going to go there." And we lose some of them. There's a lot of people who come here that end up going up to the national park. and we show them, we talk to them, okay, go in this way, go in this way, go see this, go see that. So, we're into it. Um, and we're seeing a decline right now in the economy. And you guys were talking about toot and hotels. You got to understand, we're a moving target. We are 85% full year round. And I think we're one of the big biggest contributors of toot to the city. Anyway, my time's up. If you guys ever want to talk more about this, I'm always available. Thanks y'all.

Any other speakers? All right. U we did have two written comments sent in that we did read that were left on the dis. No other public comments this time. We'll turn it over to city council for discussion and the committee. You want to go? Um I've been the lucky person that has sat on the STBR subcommittee through four years now. previously with council member Betts and then previously with council member Nunes and now with council member Pittz. We've been working a lot on this and I appreciate all of the time staff and Mr. Pittz and our residents. Um Mr. Anderson know we had a very long discussion and very productive discussion and we we heard from those people that we talked to that are not happy with uh with the STVR issue and uh we made changes to reflect that. Um, couple of things that came up during our discussion there. You were talking about creating a hotel zone. It sounds like you've already created your own up there and where you're renting those units out and using the front desk and using your staff to police that. And I, you know, I think we all thank you for that because our code enforcement doesn't have to go out and and our people don't. So, you know, if you're renting those villas from the front desk, you know, you there's nothing that prohibits you from doing that. Is there? Okay. Well, then then I stand corrected by our attorney over here. So, but that is that is something that that is intriguing. Now, we have had at the mayor's direction, this subcommittee doesn't go away once once the issue has been passed. So, I imagine you will be directing us to come back again next year with anything that we've learned or anything that needs to be changed. But, um I do want one of the things that uh that Mr. Anderson had addressed and is something that we did look at in the earlier reiterations of

this a couple of years ago is other jurisdictions like Big Bear and um San Diego require a little sign out front with the owner's name and address and phone number and all of that on that. Um and we took a serious look at that and felt that that was kind of an opening a door for criminal activity because somebody would immediately know that that place might not be uh operational. However, one of the things that could come out of our our our our class for responsible STVR owners is a recommendation that they notify their immediate neighbors of how to get a hold of them as part of being a responsible STVR owner. So, that could be a good fix for for now. And uh you know, we'll see how that route goes. and uh and uh when we inevitably review this again next year, um we can take all of that into account. But I'm pleased with this result. I think it will really help a lot with uh with our future uh tourism and meeting our uh meeting our uh our s our total goals. And so I'm happy to recommend it to the to the full council. Jan,

thank you. Mayor Pro Tim. Yes. Um, I know there's many different feelings about the STVRs. Um, but I also want to say thank you to everyone who submitted a letter. We've received letters, voicemails voicing their concerns and ideas for an enhanced STVR. And please know we take those comments um, and consideration. We take that into consideration very seriously. I also want to thank all of the residents whom both myself and Mayor Pro Tim met with. There was a couple of them that in different districts that we we met with that were probably most impacted by these STVRs and we met with several of them at various coffee shops and Mayor Proim just spoke to it. We were taking notes. We were engaged with with you and a lot of that language we've come back and like mayor proima said we've reframed it. And so this is the most important part I think a takeaway that I wanted to state. We can always amend and revisit as needed. We're going to apparently every year we do this. So I'm just I'm lucky that

I didn't realize that but I'm I'm lucky and seriously I'm it's it was a pleasure to be able to be on this on this committee and we're also work with with staff to help make the sausage if you will. Um but I I don't want those watching obviously by YouTube as well. We don't want you to think that that we're just doing our own thing and that you've forgotten. Not at all. We have heard you and part of what we've heard is and you're correct. Um there was a some talk about 250 in your particular area and also mine in Rancho Deloro in district 2 and it was oversaturated and we said no, let's just stick with the the 500 in those particular areas. Um this is evolving. There's always room to improve, but what we're trying to do is we're trying to hear our residents and say, "Hey, we need some help." And so, I think that would be my best um takeaway message is that you were not ignored. We heard you and I I guarantee you there's a be a lot of moving parts on this and we will revisit as as needed to make sure that that we protect our our residents.

Questions? Have a comment? Sure.

So, I had a chance to read over some of the different emails and what have you, and I am familiar with the city of Lita's program with what they have over there. Um, [clears throat] I look at it more as a solution looking for a problem, and I think we got a when I look at some of the issues that they've done out there, uh, Lita aired on the side of not wanting to have STRs in their town. If they had an option of not having them at all, that's probably where they would go. And so, you know, what I look at is is are we do we have a problem? And we have problems in certain areas. We have very distinct problems in certain areas which the committee addressed in some other things. I'm sure that we may have to make amendments to those. But we also have to understand most of these STRs are individually owned, separate. Somebody has a second home, maybe it's an extra income, maybe it's something they they uh rent out and then they come and visit. I have one across the street from me. Um he strvies it uh when he's not in town. He lives in LA and then he comes out with his family for the weekend. And so it's kind of a hybrid mixture of this. Um [clears throat] sometimes when we get into the enforcement mechanism of things, people have a tendency to have create more solutions looking for problems that don't exist because they overthink it. I'm not going to be that kind of person. I'm not going to support that kind of thing. Uh I I think what our committee did was smart. It left the door open for consideration of other ideas ina including certain future overlays that might be necessary to improve or enhance certain areas. Um and we're going to find out with those things. Um but to [snorts] jump ahead, let's let's see how it works. And I think it's going to work and I think we're going to come up with how can we improve and enhance because maybe certain spa zone areas might even

want more. Then we can talk about the benefit of that through an overlay which is benefiting it. But let's not overtly regulate unnecessarily when frankly we don't have that kind of problem. That's all I could say. Mr. P, anything on this? I'm glad you're leaving it open. I would suggest that you find out not here about the villas and what you can and can't do. Uh two ends of a stick. Uh one is failure, the other is success. You left it open. That's good.

No other questions or comments? We entertain a motion. I'll move we adopt the vacation rental uh regulation amendments. Is there a second? Second,

please vote. Motion passes unanimously. This is the first reading of an ordinance of the city council of the city of Desert Hot Springs, amending chapter 5.44 of the Desert Hot Springs Municipal Code regarding vacation rentals. The ordinance will return on January 6 for second reading and adoption. Thank you. I'm going to move back to item three. There was a question by Miss P and she forgot to ask. It's not going to ask for a reconsideration on the vote, right? It's just a question. No. No. In the resolution, it did not state hotel and spa incentive program. That's the only correction

and it's been reflected on this end. So, uh, prior to it being documented, our city attorney will update that language and we'll make sure it's reflected properly. Thank you. Thank you. And no items pulled from the consent calendar. Uh, we anyone have public comments on items not on the agenda? Did not make public comments at the beginning of the meeting. See nobody coming forth. Uh, and just a reminder that the planning commission will meet on the 9th, public safety commission on the 11th. The city council will be dark the rest of the month unless a special meeting is needed. Merry Christmas. Enjoy your holidays. Happy holiday.

Mr. Mayor, I have a correction. Sorry. When I did the first reading of the ordinance um for STVRs, that will return at the second meeting in January [clears throat] because the council is dark January 6th. Thank you very much. Did I get happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidida? Did I cover all the bases? Please be safe. Happy holidays.