City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. We are going to go ahead and start our study session. And we're here at 515. First start with public comments. Are there any requests to speak?

We have several requests to speak. Would you like to call them first or have the presentation and then public comments?

Maybe we do the presentation first and then bring up. Okay. Okay. So I'll ask our Public Works Director, Scott Smith, you could start off the presentation. Welcome.

Honorable Mayor, Council Members, we have OCP staff with us today.

It gives us an opportunity to receive an update and also allow for some discussion. So with that, Rick, if we can get the presentation up, I'll introduce or invite OCPA staff to provide the presentation.

Welcome. Thank you very much, Mayor. Mayor and members of the city council and city staff, my name is Joe Mosca. I'm the CEO of Orange County Power Authority and very happy to be here with you once again. And to my left here is Jackie Henderson. She is the Director of Communications and External Affairs for Orange County Power Authority. And she's going to share in some of the presentation with me tonight. And we'll try to be brief as possible. Really talk a little bit about the change in launch date from from October of this year to April of 2027. And then provide you with enough time to kind of answer any questions that you have. And of course, if there's public comment, we'll endeavor to answer as many of those questions as possible. So, where is the clicker?

Click here. All right.

All right, so I know that you guys know a lot of this, right? But what I want to do is just a couple of slides of some basic information. I'll go through it really quickly. But just so if there are people that are kind of tuning in for the first time, that we're just starting at chapter one so that they understand who we are and what we're about. So Orange County Power Authority is a community choice aggregator. There are 25 aggregators in the state of California. We're a not for profit public agency, a joint powers authority. Not unlike a lot of the other joint powers authority that you may belong to, that you're basically working with other cities. on certain services that you believe that you can do together collaboratively. We provide energy choice for the first time ever, clean energy choices, and we're also very much community focused. OCPA purchases energy from renewable and carbon free resources. We don't have any shareholders. You can kind of think of us as the community are our shareholders. And so we're a not for profit. That doesn't mean that we can't make a profit, but it means that our profit is reinvested in our member agencies. So it's for a purpose. And it's for a benefit of our member agencies. Currently we have about 188,000 customer accounts throughout our territory. When Fountain Valley is launched in April 2027, we'll have just shy of 200,000. So really a nice size CCA that is able to tailor its programs to its member agencies. We have over a collective 12 years, decades of experience with OCPA, and this has just continued to grow. We have some folks that are amazing, intelligent, smart, creative folks that are working on your behalf. And here are some of the folks that will be helping with Fountain Valley. We have CCA experience, investor owned utility experience, municipal utility experience, and also working for agencies over the years. So I know this is a really simple slide, but we can always dive deeper if anybody has any questions. But this is really a very high level of what we do as a CCA, what OCPA does. So we're purchasing energy on behalf of our customers. Our customers tell us what types of energy they want, wind, geothermal, solar, battery storage, biomass. What is it that they want? We're going from one option. to many options and so we're procuring that energy on behalf of or purchasing that energy on behalf of our customers and then we deliver that energy to the electric grid right and then southern california edison which is our partner here they are the utility they maintain all the poles they maintain all the wires and then that energy is delivered to the homes and businesses in fountain valley let me also say that that southern california edison also does all the billing they also have a customer call line, we also have a customer call line. So our customers have double the customer help. There are 200 communities throughout the state of California. There's 475 cities like yours throughout the state of California, 40 million people throughout the state. 200 of those cities are within a CCA. So while OCPA is fairly new, about four years, CCAs are not new in the state of California. 15 million Californians are living within an area that is served by a CCA. In fact, we are, CCAs collectively are now the engine of purchasing energy and specifically clean renewable energy in the state of California. I have a statistic there that 21,000 megawatts of clean energy purchased collectively by CCA throughout the state of California. So that is a very large amount and is what's moving the energy transition right now. There are many benefits of community choice, and so I just put a few there, but choice. Choice for the first time ever, currently you have one choice which is Southern California Edison and they have one basic product. With Orange County Power Authority, we have three different choices and you still have the choice of staying with Southern California Edison if you so choose. Competition, competition is good. It's not only good for affordability purposes, but also customer experience. SC has 5 million customer accounts over a population of 15 million. We have 200,000 customer accounts over a very much smaller population. We can tailor our programs, we can tailor our offerings. to our customers and we can compete in a very good way. Local control, we aim to empower our residents. Your representatives sit on our board of directors and they are setting the policies, they're setting the strategic direction. We hope to invest in our local communities and local generation. Of course, we have utility scale generation because we'll purchase a whole lot of generation, but we also are hopeful in investing in our local communities with local generations. So therefore, we need a workforce not only of today, but of tomorrow. So we're all about investing and helping to create a workforce right here in Orange County, right here in Fountain Valley as a not-for-profit model. We're not focused on profit. We're focused on affordability. We're focused on trust. We're focused on transparency. We are born of a city's goal to reduce greenhouse gases locally and to give our residents more and customers more options. We also endeavor to to support our customers with customer programs that are tailored to their needs. We don't see our customer programs as a one-stop shop. We don't see it like, okay, here's a battery, we're done with you. It's a relationship that we're building. We not only want to basically provide you with the latest in technology and innovation, but we also want to help you drive down your energy usage, drive down your cost. There's a lot of ways that you can do that. Customers don't know that there's now time of use. So there are different times that your energy is more costly. We want to make sure our commercial customers and our residential customers and our municipal customers know that. We want to work with them. We want to give white glove service to them to make sure that we're helping them. Of course, this whole thing was born out of an effort to reduce greenhouse gases. And there is no better strategy in the state of California than a community choice aggregator to reduce greenhouse gases locally that are associated with the generation of electricity. Recent achievements, again, there have been a lot in the last four years. And so I couldn't put it all on one slide, and I know we have a limited amount of time. So not only are we experiencing a lot of innovation and technology advancements on the energy side of things, but also on the financial side. This is something I wanted to really talk about, which is the fact as a public agency, which is different than the investor-owned utility, we basically have access to non-tax-free bonds. And so one of the things that other CCAs have done that we tried and we are very successful in our first go is pre-payment green bonds so we're taking our long-term contracts and pre-paying them. So we went to the market just before all of the other conflict that's happening in the world. We went to the market with about a billion dollars, just shy of a billion dollars in long-term contracts. And we got one of the highest savings of any CCA in the last several years, 12.45%. So over five years, that's $25 million, reducing our energy costs. Energy costs for I mean, like any other JPA, the services are the primary. And so for OCPA, the primary is energy. 93% of our costs are related to energy. Our organization is extraordinarily lean, so 93% only for the cost of energy. So driving down that largest line item allows us to be as competitive and as affordable in the future as possible. I also wanted to add, that will end this fiscal year, so our fiscal year goes from the end of June to July. And so we'll be ending our 25, 26 fiscal year very soon. We'll end with a positive result and also contributing to our reserves. We've been named over the last several years, we've consistently been named as one of the top providers of green energy in the United States. Not just in California, but in the United States by an agency within the Department of Energy. Another item that I'm really proud of is the Community Power Plan. This is our roadmap for designing and deploying relevant customer programs. So not only are we giving more choices, affordable rates, competitive rates, but also we're reinvesting by way of customer programs. We're listening to our customers. We're listening to our member agencies. What do you want us to do? The CPP, the Community Power Plan, was that endeavor. It was an opportunity to really listen to our customers and come up with a plan. And so now it's done. And we're proud of it, and now we're implementing that plan. So let's talk a little bit about some of the customer programs that we've just implemented from some of this planning.

Yes, good evening, council, mayor, vice mayor. Great to be here, thank you for having us. So I did want to talk about first for our programs, one that is not listed here, which is our solar program, our rooftop solar program. So we encourage residential solar on homes. So we offer enhanced benefits for people that have solar panels. So for starters, OCPA continues to offer solar benefits that mirror the NEM 2.0. And that is a benefit structure that's provided to people who installed solar panels before April 2023. And those customers get increased value for the energy they send up to the electric grid. If you've gone after that time period or even start today, that value is decreased. But we continue to offer that higher value for the energy that goes back up to the grid. We also offer a higher. net surplus compensation rate and so that SCE will give you a total amount at the end of the year when they true you up. We give you 10% more if you are a solar customer through OCPA. So I just wanted to start with that because I know that's very important for Fountain Valley. We've been out in the community a lot and we also get asked a lot about our solar program, so I did want to start with that. Our community power plan took over 14 months to develop and we wanted to make sure that the programs that we offer are a benefit to our customers that are in addition to what SCE is offering. So if you're an OCPA customer, you remain an SCE customer. We're not replacing SCE. We are certainly adding value on top of SCE. And so we've done a few programs before our community power plan launched. We got a lot of feedback from all of our community advisory committee, our board, city staff, city council members, different businesses in our member cities to make sure that what we launch going into the future for years to come is something that's going to be applicable to our specific communities. So ahead of that, we've launched a few programs that I wanted to mention. We gave away over 200 no cost level two EV chargers to our customers simply for being a customer and wanting to take part in our program. We've given away nearly 1,500 energy efficiency kits. And those are easy tools for your home to increase your energy efficiency. So that's LED light bulbs, a smart strip, weather stripping. We simply just want to make you more energy efficient so you're using less energy and getting less of a cost on your energy bill overall. We've also given away $1,000 for battery storage in one of our programs. We also give away a number of grants to community based organizations including in Fountain Valley. We want to make sure that people that are doing programs that support renewable energy or sustainability throughout their communities and know how to speak directly to the members of their communities are getting that support. So we've supported a number of different programs including the Girl Scouts we've given a grant to, to be able to have an OCPA badge for kids that are doing a renewable energy in a box kit and learning how to use solar energy to We've given away a grant to Inside the Outdoors so that they have a traveling scientist program. They go into classrooms and give hands-on learning experience to kids, and they're going to do that with renewable energy through a grant that we've been able to provide. we learned that people just have a barrier to knowing what's out there and how to make easy changes to their energy bill to save money. So we actually gave a free webinar, which is still available on our website. So anybody that's hearing this can go to our YouTube page and watch the webinar to learn how to save money and make adjustments to your energy bill or Small little things you can do around your house, using your blinds to close your blinds, hanging up your clothes. Little things that you can do to save money, because we want to encourage that as well. We also launched out of our community power plan our first renter focused program. And this overcame the barriers of cost and landlord approval that you need to make changes in a rented home. And that was giving away a free HVAC system and a portable battery so that you could use all of those pieces of equipment. And that was free. That's about $1,500 to our customers for free. We also have partnerships with statewide funded programs through the US Green Business Council, California Energy Commission, SoCal and Bay Renewable Energy Networks. Those are dollars that would not come to Orange County were it not for Orange County Power Authority being able to take that and put it directly into our community. That's just touching on a few of our programs that we have right now.

So OCPA continues to be extraordinarily disciplined when it comes to finances. We're prudent, we're conservative, and we're constantly thinking about the future. So as I said, we'll end 25-26 in the black with contributions to reserve. 26-27 fiscal year budget was just approved by our board of directors, and I believe you have that at your dais. And it shows, again, a balanced budget. It meets all the strategic goals that our board has set out. We had a strategic planning session earlier in the year where the board laid out certain goals, and our budget is informed by those goals. And our budget supports affordability, reserve building, and long term financial sustainability. It contributes $14 million to reserves at the end of the fiscal year, and it gets us back on the track of rebuilding those reserves. It also has $2.2 million dedicated to customer programs. It also supports the green discount program. So even as we fixed our rate for 2026, we do have a green discount program that are available to our customers that is pegged off the SE rate 1% less than SE currently. And that's a program that we're prioritizing low income qualified customers for, but it's open to everybody. And as Jackie just mentioned, there's a lot of dollars on the state and federal level. And Orange County historically has not reached out for a lot of those dollars. So we are a a funnel for some of that, and just recently we've been able to, in the last fiscal year, $500,000 for our cities. And that's just funding coming to OCPA. We also have funding that went to Buena Park in excess of that. There are some questions about reserves. So a prudent reserve policy for a load serving entity as Orange County Power Authority is around 30 to 50% of general fund costs within reserves. This allows for resiliency, financial resiliency in the future. One of the biggest priorities would be the stabilization of rates into the future. We can dig deeper on this if you have questions on that. Here's the financial outlook for the next five years and reserves. A couple of things that I would say, high level looking at that, the revenue requirement for OCPA is pretty flat, pretty stable over the next five years. And it also shows how we basically track with that 30 to 50% reserve margin over the next five years. Importantly, at 2028, you'll see the intersection of when we get up past the 30% because that's an important date that we spoke before in prior conversations that we've had here at the City Council about a credit rating and how important it is to have good credit for a load serving entity like us because we're constantly in the market doing business, purchasing energy. So the credit rating is extraordinarily important. So we're aiming to get that credit rating in 2028 and we need to cross that line of that 30%. to ensure a good credit rating. So this is some of the planning, high level planning that we're showing. So rate setting, real fast about rate setting, because I think this is something that has come up before. Generation rates have historically been set by OCPA at the beginning of each calendar year, right? And prior to 2026, our rates were essentially indexed or pegged off of Southern California Edison, meaning that wherever they're at, We're either 2% less or we're basically, for smart choice, we're one penny more, one penny and a half more for 100%. 2026 was a transitional year for us. We heard from our customers that they want a fixed rate, more predictability. Why? Because SEAs rates are four to six times a year up and down, four to six times a year up and down. And so can you basically hold your rates? steady throughout the course of the year. And this is something that we propose to our board of directors. The rate that we had at the end of 2025, 13.4 cents a kilowatt hour, is a low rate. Everybody thought it was low in 2025. When you look at the average rate of Southern California Edison over a three year period of time, 13.4 cents per kilowatt hour is exactly where they're at. That was their norm for the last three years. But for some regulatory changes and some shifts at the beginning of January 2026, they likely would be at 13.4 cents or higher. In the get go, they basically moved to lower. They're likely to go up. Why? Because they're at an all time low now. But we locked our rates for 2025, for 2026, and we're also doing a cost study which will allow our board of directors to see on a more long term basis what the resiliency, what the rates are for the long term. It also allows us more information in terms of our strategy for our energy products and for setting our rates in the future. One of the things that we're looking at in this cost study is prioritizing a basic option that is indexed off the utility in the future. So we are going to bring back to our board of directors coming up when we set our rates, when we start to give information about what SC is doing. For 2027, we will present our board of directors with an option to have a basic option which is less than, more affordable than an SCE. So we basically heard from a lot of our customers that the steady rate is important, but so is competitiveness and affordability. So we're looking at both those options of having the premium products that are competitive. But also having a base product that is affordable and less than the utility. The rate comparison which a lot of folks have asked us about is going to be on our website in early 2027 as soon as we know what the rates are going to be for 2027.

So I wanted to just take a moment and share a little bit about how the enrollment process works for any new city coming onto a CCA. There is a 60 day window before the transition takes place for energy service for that city, within which the customers will all receive two regulatory mailings, 60 days ahead of time and 30 days ahead of time. And so during that 60 day window, there is the opportunity to make changes to the plan that you are on. There is an opportunity to stay with SCE. And have no changes take effect to your electricity bill. And then when Fountain Valley changes over to service through OCPA in April of 2027, each customer will be rolled over to OCPA generation on their meter read date for April. So that will be staggered throughout the month. And upon that time, you will get a second regulatory mailing, and then you will get one another month out. And within those 60 days, you have the opportunity to make any changes, to pick a different plan, or to stay with SCE. with no changes to your electricity. But then you also have the opportunity to change your plan at any time or go back to SCE at any time. So we are very flexible. We're all about choice. We certainly want people to be comfortable with what they feel is best for them and their family. And so that is something that we offer as a CCA. I did want to mention during the onboarding process that we are in Fountain Valley frequently. So we've been doing different community events. We'll be at Summerfest next weekend, so we're excited to see everybody there on Friday and Saturday. We've been doing organization presentations. Just did one last week, look forward to more of those, going back to those communities and speaking to them, which has been really great. We're looking at casual coffee and conversations and cafe meetings. We're working with our community advisory committee to do that. We have a couple of members here in Fountain Valley that have been critical to us making sure that we're connecting with the right audiences. We are doing geo-targeted digital and informational videos right now so that people have familiarity with who we are and have a better understanding of what we're bringing to Fountain Valley. We also have been partnering with Scott Rogers over at Fountain Valley Living to have the back cover of Fountain Valley Living Magazine every month so that people can get familiarity with who we are. We've also had advertorials. the magazine explaining a little bit more about coming to Fountain Valley. We have a landing page on our website specifically for Fountain Valley residents and we also have one on the Fountain Valley City website. We have static billboards running on PCTA right now. We'll be doing videos very soon to transition over to that. We have bus shelters and print ads. In 2027, we'll be doing some hours at the senior center to make sure that we can connect with as many people as possible if they have any questions or need any help with anything. And then I'll turn it back over to Joe to talk about the partnership and benefits that we offer. But I did want to highlight just a couple of them, and one that Joe spoke to earlier was the customer service that we offer. I get to oversee the community engagement team here at OCPA, and I will tell you, we get frequent people in the community really grateful for the customer service that we offer. You can call with questions about your bill. We can help you save energy, switch your plan. It comes directly to me and my team and we answer and respond to that. So that is definitely a benefit from what SCA is offering in addition to what they are offering. And then we're also doing these programs that are really helping customers make better energy choices. Like Joe said, it's building a relationship with these customers so they have a trusted source to get information from and to seek out if they have questions about their energy and to make better choices in their home to save money on the long run, not just on a line on their bill. So we're a bigger value proposition than just what's going on your bill every single month. So I'll turn it back over to Joe.

I think our last slide is just simply to learn more about OCPA. We have all of our contacts there in terms of our and also our social media handles. And we're available for questions. I see that you have some public comments, so we'll sit down if you don't have any questions, and we'll be here to answer any questions that you have in the future. Yeah, thanks, Joe and Jackie.

We appreciate you coming out tonight and sharing information as we continue our learning about OCPA. I know we have a lot of speakers.

Councilman Grandis, did you want to make a comment?

Yeah, just a couple of questions if I could. Some of the things that I'm hit up on is that why would Fountain Valley join if so many cities within Orange County who have participated have already dropped out? Can you tell us how many cities have actually dropped out of OCPA?

So there's one city that has basically left. and that's the city of Huntington Beach.

Okay, so that's just one. So on social media, I was bombarded with there's so many cities, so there's been one. Can you just, I thought I heard you say this, so the price right now, let's just be open, the price right now at Basic Choice is more expensive than Edison, correct?

Yes, it's $0.134 a kilowatt hour. Edison's is around $0.12 a kilowatt hour.

Okay, but you said on average Edison goes up and down four to six times a year. Yes. And on average over the last three years, have we been more expensive, less expensive, or basically the same?

Our basic product has been less expensive, more affordable than SE for the entire time that OCPA has been in existence.

So right now a point in time is we're higher.

Yes, because we chose to keep our rates steady, but we can have a product that is more competitive.

And one thing that I heard from a lot of businesses is that for planning purposes and everything else, it's critically important to stay at the same rate so that it's predictable for the year. Are you finding that your businesses- Yes.

Customers are asking for- This is something that is very common with a lot of our commercial customers, small, large commercial customers. And the cost of study that we've endeavored to do, and that we're going to be presenting to you as a board of directors in the future, is really looking at that challenge of how do we have a basic product that is pegged or indexed off the utility and is less than the utility, but at the same time have more dynamic such that our commercial customers have fixed rates and have more predictability in how their generation costs are coming in. So that's something of a challenge that we're looking at and that we hope to solve in the upcoming fiscal year.

Okay, and you talked about reserves. And basically, it's a complicated issue, but from what I know, it's rate stabilization. So it's not reserves like the Fountain Valley General Fund reserves, etc. It's rate stabilization. And you use those funds when prices go higher that we don't raise the price, you keep it the same, and any deficits you take out of the rate stabilization plan. And then in those years when There's more, I don't want to say income, but more revenue than expenses. You then replenish that fund so when the rates go up and potentially in the future you could use that again. Is that what you use the reserves for? Essentially, yes. Okay. One of the big concerns I hear people say is, It's going to be hard to opt out. So can you give us in 15 seconds what it takes to opt out?

Call us, go online, and there's a really simple process to say, I want to opt out. And we basically do a lot, as Jackie just mentioned, to let you know of what your options are, to opt out and go back to SCE or to go with OCPA and go with a different product than you're actually defaulted into.

Okay, so how long do you say that would take if they went online? Are we talking minute, an hour? Seconds. Seconds.

Yeah, there's a whole page.

So the time that it takes for people to write an email or post, it would take less time to actually opt out and stay on Edison.

And I would venture to say that you could email our customer service line and we would do it for you, so yes.

Okay, and then last question, then we'll get into, because I'm curious to hear the public as well, is a lot of people on social media recently have said, I have solar panels. Can you just reconfirm, I thought you heard you say that you pay back 10% more than Edison does if you have solar? That is correct. So if you're a solar customer, J-Town, if you're a solar customer, you would be better off on OCPA than what they're getting through SCE.

That is correct, yes.

Okay, I just wanted to confirm that, because that's the questions I was asked, so I wanted to ask you. That's all I got.

And even as of late, as the state has moved toward the third iteration of NEM, we've stuck with the second iteration of NEM. And so we're still honoring that NEM 2 program, and so it's even more beneficial for our customers today. Somebody that doesn't have rooftop solar, somebody who's looking at that proposition today, we're even more beneficial for.

And the opt-out timing is, if we start, let's just say April 1st, so from February 1st, February, March, April, through June 1st, anybody could opt out for any reason. They don't need an excuse and shoot you an email. Yes. Phone call, online, if you say. Correct. All right, that sounds good.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. We'll go ahead and start with the public comments.

Just one quick housekeeping item. Andrea Martell, you didn't put what you want to speak on. Is it this item? OK. That's all I needed to know. First speaker, Katie Wright.

Welcome. Hello, mayors. Many will come behind me giving better statistics. I have. a very strong opinion about what was freely described as advertorials. Anyone who's ever written for a paper knows actual news never allows advertorials. That's for the letters to the editor page. So the very publication that he's bragging about using the back page, I saw that right away. I know how expensive those pages are. I know that with this election season coming up, a lot of the candidates who have good funding are going to be buying big, expensive, flashy advertorials and ads in that particular publication. So someone on our dais referred to, have we been more or less expensive? This person's on the board of directors. This person received... at his mayor's ball a $1,500 donation to buy a table at the mayor's ball by OCPA.

I'm sorry, I'm going to- Point of order.

Yeah, that is just- Point of order, you need to address to the board on the issue.

So OCPA made it- This is to the board.

This is to let you know that your credibility as a group on a dais

Mr. Mayor, I want to go on record as saying, and this has already been talked about by our attorney, and it's been brought up at many meetings, that the Chamber of Commerce put on an event and they bought a table there. I received no compensation. No one said you did. I received no benefit. You alluded that just now.

I did not allude to that. Okay. You interpreted that. I just want to clarify. You inferred that.

Okay, go ahead. We stopped. You can continue with your time.

The big issue to me is the fact that so many citizens in this city do not have social media skills. I have mentioned this before, and I know it would be expensive and not fruitful for anyone to try and produce a newspaper in this town. Newspapers go under because they're very expensive, they don't make a lot of money. But you're not communicating well enough with the public. The person, the entity that wants to promote this has plenty of money, To reinvest in the community and advertise and advertorials. Think about that, someone should look that up and give that consideration. The actual people who live in this town and pay taxes in this town and have decisions made for them against their will. don't have the option of knowing what's going on. It took me two hours from Sunday till today to let someone that I care about who does not follow social media understand what OCPA even is. I will admit, I have a slant, but I made sure that person knew where to look for more details and that there would be this meeting with several presentation points of view given. I'm not trying to tell someone what to think. Others are, and that's my big beef, and the city is not being transparent with letting people know the choice is being made on their behalf that they don't agree with. Thank you.

James Fullerton.

Welcome. Nice presentation. My name's James Fullerton. I'm a 26 year Fountain Valley homeowner resident. I am adamantly opposed to Fountain Valley entering into an agreement with Orange County Power Association for these reasons. OCPA does not generate power. OCPA does not deliver power. Whatever power OCPA buys just goes onto the grid and you get the same power you are getting now. You're just paying more for it. SCE provides 100% renewable electricity option to its customers as well. OCPA acts as a middleman, charging up to 18% more than SCE. That's flat off of the City of Irvine's website. OCPA site is misleading. It states alternative services, but it is still SCE services. Taxpayers, for which I am one, have to fund OCPA. If OCPA goes down, nice reserve study, Fountain Valley will lose all funding. That's a risk. Huntington Beach, our neighboring city, did leave OCPA due to mismanagement, a lack of transparency, and a rising electoral costs, and that also off the website. Mr. Grandis and Mr. Bowie are board members of OCPA. Mr. Bowie is an alternate. I don't like that. It brings ethics to mind for me. All I have to say is, in closing, follow the money, not the climate change hyperbole. Thank you very much.

Next speaker, Shankala Singh.

Welcome.

Good afternoon, Mayor Kanin, Vice Mayor Harper, and City Council members Bowie, Ghandis, and Constantine. Did I pronounce it right? Yes. Okay. Hi, my name is Chanchala Singh, and I am with the Asian Business Association of Orange County. And so many of our members live and own businesses in this great city of Fountain Valley. We are all so excited Fountain Valley is bringing in OCPA because they are so community centered and have demonstrated a genuine interest in serving all your residents. Listening to diverse community voices and giving people something so powerful choice. That we all love it. We so appreciate your leadership and all your time, energy, and hard work that makes Fountain Valley such a wonderful place to live, work, and own a business in. Thank you.

Harvey Liss.

Welcome. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. I'm Harvey Liss, a resident of Irvine since 1976, former Irvine Planning Commissioner and a licensed professional civil engineer. First, I should say that this isn't really a study session. We've had a half hour of a propaganda session. You should offer me another half hour in the future to propose an opposition session in which you will get some facts which are very different from what you've just heard. Here is the easiest way to explain why it is impossible for OCPA to help the environment better than Southern Cal Edison, what to change, charge lower rates compared to SCE. 20 years ago, renewably generated electric energy was much more expensive than fossil fuel generated energy. So then, the investor owned utilities like SCE purchased fossil fuel generated power rather than renewably generated electricity because it was a lot cheaper. In those days, the only way for environmentally concerned rate payers to reduce their contribution to global warming was to subscribe to a community choice aggregator, like OCPA, that purchased the more expensive, then, renewably generated energy. And its do-gooder subscribers happily paid the higher bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now, renewably generated electric power has for the last five years or so been much cheaper than fossil fuel generated electric power. So the investor-owned utilities like SCE purchase as much renewably generated power as they can buy and actually get on the grid, saturating the grid with renewably generated energy during the day. OCPA with no in-house energy trading expertise and lack of scale cannot compete with Southern Cal Edison in the purchase of renewable generated energy contracts. So OCPA must hire outside consultants and highly commissioned energy traders, who charge big fees and have no incentive whatsoever to minimize costs, while SCE's employees with massive experience and the institutional need to maximize profit for SCE have every incentive to minimize costs, which means maximizing their purchase of renewably generated power that can be put on the grid. And SCE's profit margin is roughly comparable to the commissions paid by OCPA. So OCPA has no cost advantage whatsoever as a nonprofit. It is impossible for OCPA to put cheaper electricity with higher renewables content than SCE on the grid. And if they charge cheaper rates, it must be subsidized, and they cannot do that for long. SCE has now abandoned their 50% and 100% tiers of renewables for new subscribers because legitimate additional renewable generated power is not available. However, SCE recommends several significant community renewables programs with which a subscriber can contract directly and results in SCE bill- Harvey, your time is up. Thank you.

Tom Truman.

Welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you very much everybody. Is it on? Yes. Okay. My name's Tom Choman from Irvine. I've lived here 30 years. Moved out here from Indiana 40 years ago. Back in 1972, I was crushing plastic and crushing cans for recycling before it was cool. So I do love an environment. However, as a resident of Irvine, I use SCE. I've never used OCPA, a matter of fact. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. It was a good idea when it started, but it's kind of been a financial nightmare. $700,000, the city of Irvine pays more in electricity through OCPA than with SCE. What I did is I put solar panels on my house, and that's helped me with my electricity bill. That's what I believe in. Something about Irvine, 75% of Irvine does participate in the OCPA, 25% are with SCE. State average is like 18% and 82%. The reason why is we tried to educate everybody in Irvine a lot more about the fine print and to get into it and out of it. It's fairly easy to get out if you want. You just got to read the fine print. Most people don't even know they're in it. until they get educated on it. So that's where Irvine's going. And I just believe that the renewable energy also right now, residentials in July of 2025, 96,000 people use basic choice, only 1,237 people use renewable energy. A question for someone to ask on this is in the city of Irvine or in, what do they expect in Fountain Valley? How many people can get 100% renewable energy like they're promoting? It's really not the case. They buy it from SCE. SCE doesn't have enough. They can only sell so much. So I hope you make a careful choice for your citizens, and you save them money. There's no reason to raise their rates 8% to 15% to give out $1,000 solar batteries. So that's all. Thank you. Stephen Schwartz.

Welcome. Rick, how many speakers?

13 more. I'm just kidding. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm speaking tonight regarding our city's partnership with Orange County Power Authority. When we talk about OCPA, there's a common misconception that this is a complete risky replacement of Southern California Edison. But it's vital to clarify that OCPA is not an alternative to SCE, but it's a partner. OCPA only handles power generation. They act as our local purchasing agent, buying wholesale clean energy at levels each resident specifies and puts it into the grid. SCE, on the other hand, still owns, operates 100% of the physical infrastructure. When something goes wrong, SCE comes out. Our billing remains consolidated. We don't separate it for OCTA. SE just takes out the generation portion and puts in OCPAs. The most compelling reason though in this partnership is a win for the city because it gives us local accountability. With SCE, critical energy decisions are made by corporate executives and boards accountable to Wall Street shareholders. Their regulatory oversight happens way up in San Francisco with CPUC, making it nearly impossible for local input. OCPA has flipped that corporate top down model. It's governed by a board of directors made up of city council members from the participating cities. Oh, you know where to go. That's okay. I've got to back up. I think. All right, then. Sorry. Because there are local representatives, they're directly accountable to us, the voters. Furthermore, the community advisory committee, of which I am a member, is comprised of appointed local residents and stakeholders, ensuring our community has direct seat at the table. Finally, while ACE prioritizes profit margins for global investors, OCPA is a public nonprofit agency. Any financial surpluses generated are designated to be reinvested back into our community. Allowing us to fund localized rebates, energy efficiency programs, community incentives tailored specifically for our needs. Steven, your time's up. All right.

D Fox.

Mr. Mayor, just for clarifications, for those who may know or may not know, first of all, I want to thank you, Mr. Schwartz. He also served on OCPA as the advisory committee on the residential side. So just for... Yeah, I know. But appointed by my colleague who's the current director. So just want to let everyone know.

And just to pause a moment, I just wanted to check with the city clerk how many more speakers we have on this study session matters only? We have 13 more speakers. 13 more speakers. Okay, so we're five minutes past the start of the meeting. Can I have a number of things- Why don't we talk about how we want to proceed on that? We could continue on with the speakers and do the full 13. That'll take us into at least 7 o'clock.

yeah in the interest of time I'd suggest maybe we continue this discussion till the next council meeting in the next council meeting yeah I think too many people are here 13 people are been waiting an hour to speak I don't think that's gonna be too long for them to wait

Mr. Mayor, this meeting has been announced, this topic, for months, quite frankly, since I brought it up. We must keep going because we're going to lose people, theoretically, here in the audience, at home, wherever they're watching. It's an unfortunate situation, but this is our only chance to discuss this.

Okay, let's continue on. Thank you, ma'am. Go ahead and speak.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Dee Fox and I'm from Irvine. Residents deserve a transparent comparison between the Orange County Power Authority and Southern California Edison. When OCPA was sold to the public, residents were promised cleaner energy, competitive rates, and local control. But today, many customers are paying more while receiving power that is not necessarily cleaner than what they would receive from Southern California Edison. The reality is that SCE remains responsible for delivering electricity, maintaining the grid, restoring power during outages, and handling customer related to transmission and distribution. OCPA does none of those things. OCPA simply purchases electricity on the market and adds its own layer of administration and overhead. Residents should ask a simple question. If SCE is providing the infrastructure and in many cases offering rates that are equal to or lower than OCPA, what exactly are rate payers receiving in exchange for paying more? At the same time, OCPA has faced financial challenges, sought loans, relied on waivers from lenders, and continues to carry significant operational costs. Yet we see discussions about enhanced employee benefits, generous retirement contributions, and expanding compensation packages while rate payers struggle with rising utility bills. The public deserves full transparency. Every resident should be shown a side-by-side comparison of OCPA and SCE rates, power sources, greenhouse gas emissions, executive compensation, employee benefits, opt-out rates, and overall financial performance. If OCPA truly provides a better value, then let the data speak for itself. But if residents are paying more for electricity that is no cleaner while funding a growing bureaucracy, then local leaders have a responsibility to acknowledge that reality and consider whether continuing down this path is truly in the best interest of Irvine families and businesses. And I also want to add, just based on what Mr. Mosca had stated, originally signed up with the OCPA was Lake Forest, Huntington Beach, and the County of Orange. All three are out. Lake Forest got out, Huntington Beach got out, and the County of Orange got out. In fact, Mr. Mosca should know that the County of Orange got out because they're in a lawsuit with them right now. And then also, those programs that they speak of are referral sources. If you click on those on their website, you'll see OCPA does nothing in the way of helping communities. These programs are offered to everyone. Regarding solar panels, OCPA board member Kathleen Terceder stated that if you stay with OCPA, you do not have to put solar panels on your roof. She's also not an OCPA customer. She lives at UCI. And they have their own micro grid. So there you go. While she sits there on the board of the OCPA and votes to increase rates, it doesn't affect her. Thank you.

Connor Troy.

Welcome. Hi. Good evening, Mayor Cunning, and Vice Mayor Harper, and City Council Members Bui, Grandis, and Constantine. Hi. My name is Connor Choi, and I'm a 24-year-old entrepreneur and small business owner. And I'm speaking today on behalf of my beloved great uncle, Steve Tashiro, who's right behind me. And he has lived in Fountain Valley for over 40 years now. And I wanted to thank the city for partnering with the Orange County Power Authority and offering him and all of Fountain Valley's residents a choice. To us, that choice means freedom. to decide where our energy comes from, where we want to be, and the people that we want to have around us. We're excited to soon be able to choose OCPA as our provider because their top priority is our community and the environment. And speaking for myself and my generation, I've grown up here in Orange County and in Irvine for over 18 years. And my friends and I are genuinely grateful for the OCPA and all that they do for the community and for the people here in Orange County. We see them as helping protect the planet that we're going to inherit one day and that we're hopefully going to run with a good head on our shoulders. And yeah, so I thank you for bringing OCPA to our community, for listening to us, and for giving us a voice. Thank you.

Lara Sinanian.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and honorable city councils. My name is Lara Sinanian and I serve actually nine boards. I have a leadership role in nine organizations. including co-founder of Arab American Business Chamber, current president of the American Business Women Association here in Huntington Beach, Orange County, on the board of the Filipino Chamber, and as well as a member of the Fountain Valley Chamber. I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for your consideration of OCPA. As someone actively involved with businesses, non-profits, and community organizations throughout the region, I have seen firsthand the importance of partnering with organizations that are committed to serving residents and creating positive community impact. OCPA has demonstrated a strong commitment to community engagement, education, and providing resources that help individuals and families make informed choices. Their focus extends beyond services. They genuinely invest in the well-being of the communities they serve. Thank you for your leadership, your dedication, to the residents of Fountain Valley and for taking the time to consider opportunities that can benefit our community. I appreciate your service and thoughtful consideration. Thank you.

On Zoom, next is Tomas Castro. Welcome.

Good evening, council members. My name is Tomas Castro, and I am a proud organizer with Climate Action Campaign. As you discuss the study session item tonight, I want to reiterate the many benefits that Fountain Valley residents will receive once OCPA launches, whether that be in October or next April. For one, membership in the CCE provides...

I'm sorry, can you ask the speaker to speak a little louder? It's hard to hear him.

I'm sorry? Can you speak a little louder, please? Sure. In Southern California, we are all familiar with SoCal Edison. Monopoly Utility Act constantly raises rates on families. Their unchallenged market power has resulted in one in five SoCal households being behind on their bills by an average of $300. With OCPA, more families have a path out of this unbalanced relationship. And I would encourage everyone there who is going to bat for SCE whether they would do the same for you. The City Council made the right decision in 2024 to join OCPA. To delay the launch will ensure that programs and benefits associated with CCEs are adequately implemented in Fountain Valley. I encourage you to stay the course and to not let misinformation from outside parties derail what will ultimately be a beneficial course of action for the city. Thank you.

On Zoom, Craig Preston. Welcome.

Craig?

Hello, Fountain Valley Council, Mayor and Vice Mayor. Craig Preston, Costa Mesa. I run a climate group called Citizens Climate Lobby, Orange County Coast. We have members all throughout the area there. Just wanted to speak briefly about how OCPA has been long in coming. It improves itself each year. It's kind of like sailing. Sometimes you go into the wind, sometimes you go downwind. You've got to tack back and forth. And I'm so impressed with OCPA getting better every day in what they do. Mr. Mosca presented a slide of how their staff continues to be improved each year. So I'm just wanting to say that I've been waiting for years Out of all counties on the coast of California, Orange County is the last one that had the option of a CCA, a Community Choice Aggregator or Community Choice Energy. And I'm so glad we have this option. I live in Costa Mesa, and our city, I hope, is going to be moving there soon. But we're watching to see other cities that are heroic to jump at something new. But, yeah, it's a little scary sometimes. And I just want to say it's obviously a monopoly power is not going to go away easily. They make so much money off of us as rate payers, and they don't want to give that up. So I'm wanting to thank you for your consideration to continue to build this program and be part of it, and I hope you stay. I was impressed with the slide that said 21,000 megawatts of clean energy power have been put on the grid because of CCAs in California. They wouldn't have been there without them. It gives local control and choice to consumers and is done by a nonprofit organization that is accountable to the public. Just like all of you are accountable to the public that elected you, SCE is not elected officials. Thank you.

On Zoom, Eric Lever.

Welcome. Eric?

I guess it's my turn. My name is Eric Lieber. I'm a Fountain Valley resident for 34 years. I'm speaking today in support of the Orange County Power Authority. I believe that having the option to choose between OCPA and Edison will have a beneficial effect on cost. As has been pointed out, Edison has been raising its rates consistently and plans to raise them even more. without the pressure of competition. They're kind of able to do that with impunity. I believe that the competition has to have a beneficial effect on the cost of electricity for our residents. Also, I believe there's a lot of other benefits of having a choice. Customer service, I think that Edison could do a better job of customer service. I think that having an option to go to a different server may induce them to provide better service and residents will have a choice whether they want to go with Edison or OCPA. They don't have to go with OCPA, but they will have a choice. And the other thing with the choice is that we will have a say in how our electricity gets generated. We cannot currently tell Edison how we want them to generate electricity. We don't have the option to go to clean And non fossil fuel sources of electricity. We're kind of out there at their mercy but I think that Edison has kind of put their thumb on the scale against rooftop solar and in terms of their unwillingness to compensate people who invest in rooftop solar and Therefore taking away that choice from Valley residents to be able to Generate their own electricity and sell that back to the power authority in order to compensate themselves for the investment and obviously We need to move to cleaner sources of energy to reduce greenhouse gases also, I'm understanding that OCP has the option of certain programs for rebates on energy efficient appliances and the ability to go to electrification, to remove appliances that are producing greenhouse gases. So as a longtime Fountain Valley resident, we've heard a lot of people today who are from outside the city. I believe it will be very beneficial to our citizens, and I hope that we will stay the course and continue to go with the OCPA.

The last speaker on Zoom, Beth Hambleton. Welcome.

She's going to be a different issue.

Beth?

She's going to be .

Beth, did you want to speak about OCPA or Orange Coast Memorial?

Beth, you can't hear them, but they can hear you. Go ahead.

Oh, thank you. Okay, very good. Good evening. My name is Beth Hambleton, and I just want to thank you, Mayor Kameen, Vice Mayor Harper, and Council for giving me the opportunity to remotely express my support for the parking structure proposal for Orange Coast Medical Center.

Beth, this is the wrong issue. This is the wrong issue. We're not on that item yet. I'm going to put you back on mute, okay?

Next speaker, Libby. We're having a problem hearing you, so I'll just interpret that.

Welcome.

Hi, my name is Libby Frolickman, a 27-year homeowner here in Fountain Valley. I'm here to support OCPA coming to Fountain Valley and have been anxiously awaiting its implementation. And as a homeowner with NEM 2 panels on my roof, I am even more excited about it, having heard that I'm going to get more money back from OCPA than I do from Edison. I believe we should have a choice in our electricity provider. For too long, we've been controlled by a monopoly powered provider and forced to use Southern California Edison. As a result of deregulation, we have a choice for the source of our electricity. Like when AT&T was broken up, we didn't need new phone lines into our homes. We were able to select any phone provider and the service continued on the lines we had. In this case, Edison provides the lines into our homes, but we can choose a different energy provider. OCPA is a not for profit entity focused on the community, and I want to see that benefit for Fountain Valley. For those that like tradition or have some allegiance to Edison, they can choose to opt back to SCE anytime they want. As for me, I can't wait until my household is part of the OCPA. Thank you.

Vicky Johnson.

Welcome.

Good afternoon. I'm Vicki Johnson. I lived in Irvine when OCPA started. I followed it a long time. It's really not performing well at all. I am absolutely amazed that the CEO, the marketing people, and the board members, Mr. Grandis and Bowie, have not explained what the actual current prices are. Today, and for all of 2006, they say. SCE would be $204 per month for an average home. OCPA, $25 more per month. $25 more at least for an average home is what OCPA is charging. Now some of the people here speaking in favor of OCPA may not even know that this year the prices exploded. Now why is that? Because OCPA lost $45 million from their reserves. Yes, they moved reserves into the rate stabilization fund, but now it's exhausted. $45 million they lost, and they have to make up for that loss and more expenses and hiring that they keep adding. So why should Fountain Valley pay for the $45 million in reserves that OSP has already lost? And you saw a graph up there. They want to raise the reserves up to whatever, $150 million. They want Fountain Valley to fund their reserves. reserves and all the XX expenses. The solution is simple to this. OCPA is not what you signed up for two years ago. It's changed. It's been financially troubled and struggling and it's just a mess. So the easy solution is for Fountain Valley to withdraw from its agreement with OCPA. If you wait until April 2027, Fountain Valley will have started incurring a lot of liability, $17 million a year in power purchases. You can't wait and easily get out of this mess. By the way, Huntington Beach gave good reasons for getting out, so did Lake Forest, so did the County of Orange. Costa Mesa, just last November, recommended against joining OCPA because of financial instability. So it's very important, I think, that you consider withdrawing from OCPA immediately until its financial performance really, truly improves and you're not hearing the marketing spiel because all of Fountain Valley is going to be paying a lot of money just to rebuild reserves, let alone all the extra expenses they add to the cost of energy. Thank you.

Andrea Martell.

Hello, council members. I'm kind of new to this issue, but my background was in financial planning, administrative services, real estate. It seems to me that this OCPA is a new layer of administration inserted in there. They're leaving the balance of the maintenance of the infrastructure on Southern California Edison and just taking profits for being a purchasing agent. And that doesn't make sense to me, and I don't understand why there are so many cities that are bailing out of this, but that should be a big red flag. It would be to me. And I don't see why we need this. I mean, I love all the PR and the community service and all of that, but Southern California Edison is still going to have to maintain all the infrastructure. And it's not like a phone line, which now is out in midair. They've got wiring and telephone poles. I got two telephone poles in my backyard, and they're right there. Anyway, I appreciate the service I get from them. Thank you.

Leston Trueblood? One more.

OK, that's good. There you go.

Welcome. How y'all doing? Well, I've been in sales and marketing probably about 50 years and I really love Fantasyland, Wizard of Oz, pretty, you know, lure in the water, glitter presentations and that's pretty much what I've seen tonight from OC, whatever it's called, Power Authority. As a resident and a taxpayer, I would specifically love to see bullet points from the cities that have been mentioned of why they first associated with this organization and left. As a resident, I'd like to see that. I haven't seen that. I've heard all the... you know, wonderful and it's going to be green and you're going to just love it kind of stuff. But I'd love to see those bullet points and I'd love to have these folks answer those specific questions that are supplied by these other cities and their residents of why it just kind of didn't work out. And they decided to divorce themselves from the power authority. I'd also like to know that if the Orange County Power Authority makes some really bonehead financial moves and they go into the red or they're sued by individuals or organizations, what is the liability to the city of Fountain Valley and its residents? Thank you very much for hearing me.

Brian Genovese.

Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Kenean, Vice Mayor Harper, esteemed city council and city staff. My name is Brian Genovese. I'm a committee volunteer here in Fountain Valley. Grew up here in Fountain Valley. Went to Cox, Masuda, and Fountain Valley High School. So I've been here quite a while. Seen a lot of changes happen in the area. Served in the community volunteer position the last 14 years. So I've been chair of various organizations on the panels for other organizations and I've seen many things. The thing I'm most disappointed in is all the misinformation we're getting here tonight about OCPA. I think they're getting a bad rap for stuff that happened three years ago that no longer exists. The situation is totally different. It's not the same organization they were then. If you did your homework, you go back and look and see all the financials, all that stuff, it's a totally different organization than it was then. So if you come back and look at everything now, if you don't have change, You don't have competition. Let's just say we didn't have all these gas stations on the corner around here. Would you be getting $6 gas? No, you'd be getting $12 gas. What happened to your homeowners insurance policies the past three years? Have they gone down? You know why? Because there's no competition out there. You need competition to breed change and to breed pricing structures and stuff like that. It takes time to do that. But what's not right for you, keep this in mind, might be right for your neighbor. So give them a chance at these policies and things, too, because just because this doesn't work for you, you don't have to change. You can stick with what you have now. That's not being taken away from you. So let's keep that in mind going forward. And I really appreciate everybody's thoughts tonight and everybody to come out tonight. And I'm looking forward to your guys' decision. I'm obviously in favor of OCPA. So thank you.

Chris S. I can't read your last name. Yes, sir.

Welcome.

Thank you. Welcome Mayor and the members of city council. My name is Chris I've lived in Fountain Valley since 1986. We are paying exorbitant rates for a basic human necessity right now. That's our entire community is paying rates that have been raised 83% since 2016. Such extreme increases in rates happen in part because there is no competition. That's a topic that's been brought up a lot here, but it has an enormous value for everybody in this country. We citizens of Fountain Valley have had no choice up to now but to give all our energy business to Southern California Edison. And Southern California Edison is a monopoly that is set up to make profits for their shareholders. not to do what is best for their customers. That might explain a little bit about the increase in rates over the last 10 or 15 years. They don't profit by reducing costs for us. They profit by creating new infrastructure that they build. Our welfare is not their biggest priority. In fact, it doesn't seem to be a priority at all to them. Change outside the walls of Southern California Edison is way overdue and can only be a good thing for the citizens of Fountain Valley. And the reason for that is because we will surely benefit from some competition for our energy business. Nobody will have to actually sign up for Orange County Power Authority. They can stick with Southern California Edison. It's no problem. Even if Orange County Power Authority starts off saving Fountain Valley citizens just 3%, that's better than our present SCE rate. And Orange County Power Authority would be motivated to continue to work to reduce costs even more to keep and grow their business, because that's something that they're interested in accomplishing, unlike Southern California Edison. I don't know any more than any of you and I'm not smarter than any of you. Our city has elected many of you for your extensive business experience. I just want to express my appreciation for all the hard work and many hours spent by each of you on the City Council for us. And express appreciation as well for the work of our wonderful Fountain Valley City staff to reach this point. I am hopeful that all this garnered expertise and large amount of effort will provide the expected result that has been planned for and submitted as being recommended by the city's staff, that Fountain Valley will join with the Orange County Power Authority to give Fountain Valley an exciting and less costly energy future for all of us citizens of Fountain Valley. Chris, your time is up. Thank you.

Anna Katsuki.

Welcome. Thank you. Anna Katsuki, and I'm a resident of Fountain Valley. Wasn't planning to speak tonight. I am not an expert when it comes to utilities. OCPA versus Edison. All I can tell you is my own personal feelings. So I don't know about everybody else, but it seemed like every, I'm going to exaggerate a little bit. Every few months I get that little piece of paper that says your rates are going to go up. And I felt so frustrated because every time I turned around, Edison's rates were going up. And I felt like if I lit a candle, I'd go from tier one to tier three without doing anything. And last year, OCPA came to the Fountain Valley Women's Club meeting. And so I did a little homework and I did go on an AI platform to compare OCPA with SCE for my personal situation. And OCPA came out a little bit ahead. In 2014, because I was sick and tired of Edison raising their rates, I was paying 22.3% per kilowatt. We got solar. I know it was expensive, and I convinced my husband. He went along with it. Best decision I ever made. Today, you're paying 34 to 35 cents per kilowatt. It's gone up 50 to 60%. I don't do that, I don't pay that. Now I do have to say, I have not had to pay an electric bill for years. For the first time this year, I had to pay money to Edison. So I'm checking on the AI plate and it says because of the rates increasing. And now instead of them paying me, I now had to pay them for the first time. And I've had the solar panels since 2014. For me, I'm very open to OCPA. I believe in giving them a shot. If you don't like them, opt out. But my experience with Edison has not been a good one, and that's the reason why I went with solar, because I was sick and tired of having my rates raised, I felt like, every few months. So thank you.

Mike Ruff.

Welcome.

Thank you. I'm Mike Rao. Choice. Yeah, that's a really good idea, right? It's really a good idea. Here's a way to implement that. Instead of having OCPA automatically opt you in, have them automatically opt you out. And then each individual customer can look and examine and ask themselves, Is this something I want to do? Mike, address the council, please. Excuse me. Thank you. My voice carries over the back of my head. So I think that would be a great way to implement choice instead of just leaving it up to a council where the is already sort of on board with OCPA the way I read it. Another thing, outside forces coming to speak here. It's not the Fountain Valley It's not the Fountain Valley Power Authority, it's the Orange County Power Authority. Anyone in Orange County is appropriate to speak about this subject. Even Mr. Castro, if he lives in Orange County, welcome aboard, sir. So let's get realistic about what choice means, and let's recognize that it's not the Fountain Valley. uh authority power authority it's the orange county power authority and they will have a supererogatory power over your government and it's not going to be good for you by the way let's see how much time do i have here you have a minute and 18 seconds I attend many of the OCPA board meetings and I see gentlemen on this dais there. I never see them speaking against anything or actually voting rather against anything that OCPA asks them to approve. They always pro forma almost. It's almost as if their obligation is primarily to OCPA, not to the residents that you represent or should represent here at home. You have a fiduciary obligation to look out for your customers. Why charge them more from something they can get cheaper from a reliable, regulated source? OCPA ain't really regulated. Thank you very much.

I have no other request to speak. Okay, thank you. I'll open up to counsel for maybe some closing comments.

Closing.

Councilwoman Constantine.

Mayor Kenean, I came prepared. I mean, a lot of it I have notes from here. But this is going to take a while. And, I mean, it's well-deserved because we are here. This is our only opportunity. And there's so many holes in this thing. You want me to go ahead?

You have the floor.

Okay, thank you. Well, quite frankly, when I voted up here in October of 2024 and then again on November 2024, I got it right. Lake Forest was actually a member. And our meetings are recorded and they are part of our city's history, so they really should be accurate. As we've heard, SCE is much more...

Council Member Constantine, can you speak into the mic? I got people in this, they can't hear you from the background.

No problem. So anyway, Southern California rates are more reasonable. There's a lot of people excited to pay over $300 a month. Good for you guys. I do have some questions for OCPA, if I may. And may I please have Mr. Mosca join the microphone?

Thank you, Jo.

A couple of things here, the official vote by OCPA board was not until June 8th, but we understood in our city council meeting on June 2nd that we were going to be pushed from this October to April to start up. And I question that. I question the validity of that. I also question. How we go from, first of all, I don't want OCP. I'm not going to make any bones about it, but I will be respectful. So with that being said, how we go from October to April, and your intention is to start buying power for us starting in January, but you don't know what the rates are going to be. So this question is multi-levels here. And we do need a lot of answers, unfortunately, because the public is really wanting to know.

Well, thank you, Councilwoman. So in terms of the change of launch date from October of 2026, that was something that was originally discussed with the city council well over a year ago when we were putting together our implementation plan. The goal for Orange County Power Authority is a very smooth transition. from SE for energy generation services to OCPA. We want to make sure it's smooth from a customer experience. We want to make sure that there's no hiccups. And so in conjunction, in collaboration with all of our partners, the City of Fountain Valley, Southern California Edison, we've decided that it was best from a customer experience perspective to shift the launch date just a little bit to April of 2027 so that we can have that smooth transition. So that we can work with all of our partners to make sure that the transition from SC to OCPA service is without a hiccup, without a problem. And so it was really about ensuring the customer programs were flawless and making sure that everything was perfect.

Okay. Well, Mr. Mosca, so why we want to commit to April, and I still question the validity of that vote, because I did question numerous times up here about the start date. And is this really the case? So you can't guarantee what the power rates are going to be in January then?

So the Board of Directors will get information on what Southern California Edison is forecasting for 2027 because the competitive margin is always important. So as we're setting our rates, and I showed you a slide on our five-year forecast, fairly steady in terms of the revenue requirement for OCPA. We'll continue to brief our board on the revenue requirement for OCPA, on the rates that SCE is filing with the California Public Utilities Commission. And we'll make a decision, the board of directors will make a decision by the end of 2026 about rates for 2027.

So we could get pushed some more, theoretically speaking.

The change in launch date has nothing to do with the rates. It has everything to do with thousands of customers being transitioned from SE service to OCPA and wanting to make sure that that is done in a flawless way so that there are no hiccups and that we're communicating constantly with our customers. Having a little bit more time allows us to continue communicating with our customers. Jackie Henderson laid out some of the plans that we have. It allows us to continue to communicate with our customers, work with our partners such as Southern California Edison to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible.

Is your company bleeding at least $5 million a month?

I just showed you the financials. We're not.

Yeah, but are you really not bleeding monthly?

So just like the city of Fountain Valley, our budgets are online, and they're also third-party audit on a yearly basis. All of our budgets, dating back to the founding of OCPA, all the third-party audits are online. And no, we're not bleeding whatever $5 million that you just said.

So as far as dirty power then, I'm seeing that the latest data reflects that the power from OCPA is nearly twice worse than Edison. Is that not true?

So it's not true. So I said in my slide deck that for the third consecutive year, a national agency has said Orange County Power Authority is the largest provider of green sales in the United States of America. So it cannot be true that we're dirty and that we're the largest provider of green energy in the country. Are we a game changer for Orange County? Yes. Do we provide more renewable energy? Do we buy more renewable energy and have less carbon emissions than SC? Yes. It is our mission. SC does not even claim to buy as much renewable energy as we do. 99% of their customers are at their base product. Their base product is less renewable energy than our base product. We have an 100% product and a smart choice base product. So there is no way that when you look at the totality of our portfolio that they would have less carbon emissions. We have less carbon emissions. When you look at the totality of our portfolio, we have less carbon emissions and we purchase more renewable energy by far. We not only purchase more renewable energy than SCE, but all of our competition. Our last power content label, which is what the California Energy Commission puts out, showed that we purchased 80% renewable energy. 80% of our portfolio is from renewable energy. The power content label for 2025 is coming out in September for SE and for OCPA and will continue to make progress in terms of reducing carbon emissions and increasing the amount of renewable energy that we're putting onto the grid.

Okay, so as far as opting out, you and your business associate were pretty much stating that people could come and go as they wanted, change their plans as they wanted. I'm hearing that if you opt out and something doesn't go well, you are basically locked in for a six-month period. Is that not true? And there are certain periods that one can opt out. It's not you cannot opt out whenever you want to.

Do you want to talk about something you opt out of?

So the pre-60-day window, people can make choices to switch their energy plan or stay with SCE for any amount of time, no changes to their electricity service at all. 60 days after the transition, you can make any transition immediately and opt out or change your plan immediately. After the fact, after we do come into Fountain Valley, there is a transition period if somebody does want to opt out. There is a six month transition period. Essentially, the Southern California Edison would need to procure the amount of energy that they thought we were procuring for that customer.

on their behalf and so there is a six month period where they would either be with sce on a transitional rate or they would stay with ocpa for six months yeah you see because for me sound bites to our residents and our businesses just don't cut it and i really mean that with all due respect so just letting people think they can opt out and make changes whenever when in reality that's not the case it's It's a tough situation. I don't know. I'm just going to just black and white this. So when asked about Fountain Valley potentially getting out of this contract that we have, even though we're not yet getting any energy from OCPA, what are we in for financially if we wanted to cancel the contract?

So we hope that we have a long future with Fountain Valley, that we're helping you with all of your goals. But if you wanted to withdraw from OCPA, then yes, then the contract would be the guide. I would say that we certainly would work collaboratively with your team, as we have always worked collaboratively with your team, to ensure that whatever cost there is, it's mitigated to the greatest extent possible.

So there's no, it would be better to exit sooner rather than later, I take it.

So any cost of which are all would be based on the energy that, there are several different ways that you look at this. But the two buckets would be the cost of energy that we procured on behalf of the city of Fountain Valley and any resource adequacy that we basically purchased on behalf of Fountain Valley. We would basically reuse, resell that if we had to, and we would mitigate as much of the cost as possible. So we hope that you're with us for a long period of time. But if there's a future date down the line that there is a discussion and you feel that we haven't performed, we haven't competed in the way that we said we are, and there's a moment that you are thinking about withdrawal, then we would work collaboratively with you to ensure that there's, from a customer experience, it's as smooth as possible to transition back to SE. And there's as little cost, if not any cost, to go back to SE.

What did it cost Huntington Beach to drop out?

It didn't cost Huntington Beach anything.

And they had service with OCPA?

Yes.

I'm finished. I think we need to cycle out. I would really, I mean, how irresponsible are we as a city? I really implore my council members to really think about this quickly, though. Thank you.

Any other council comments? Councilman Blay?

Yeah, I see there's another person here in the room that is also appointed by Council Member Grandes as an advisory for the committee from the business side, which is Elizabeth . I'd like to hear if you have anything to say, since you'll be serving on that board.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members. Thank you to Council Member Bui for the opportunity to speak. I want to be clear that comments that I express are as a private citizen of the City of Fountain Valley, long-term private citizen. They are not to represent any other opinions that I may hold. So I do have the privilege of serving as a community advisory council member with a history of supporting community programs, building awareness. My perspective in my role with OCPA in this volunteer advisory role is to ensure that the residents of Fountain Valley understand what this means. We have heard a variety. of comments here tonight, some factual, some perhaps not. And so as I look ahead at the future of Valley and our partnership with OCPA, what mechanisms do we have in place to ensure that appropriate communication is flowing to the residents so that anyone can make the choice that is best for them? I do believe in choice. I think that OCPA, from my experience over the last almost 18 months has been that of how do we support the community. I've sat on a variety of grant application reviews for other cities because Fountain Valley has not qualified for those yet. But I envision a time where Fountain Valley residents will benefit from some of these additional community benefits that OCP provides. And so in short, There is benefit and choice overall. I think we all like a variety of choices. And OCPA does provide that. And again, in my role in supporting with the community advisory council, I've had an opportunity to see what some of the other communities have been able to benefit from in the way of grants, support, and community engagement. So thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. And thank you for serving.

Okay, I think that will, Vice Mayor Harper?

Thank you. I have a question about the budget. And I noticed in the back of the budget, page 26, you have a forecast of a five-year pro forma, 26, 27 to 20, 31, 20, 32. And if I look at the breakdown of the revenue, it has basic plan and then smart choice and 100% renewable. And it appears that about 96% of the revenue is coming from basic choice and 4% is coming from smart choice and 100% renewable. Is that right? That's correct. Okay. So I guess one question for me is a lot of the, I guess the theory behind moving to a community choice aggregator is that A number of people would be opting to pay a little more for these cleaner options. And it seems like only 4% of your customers are actually choosing the cleaner options. And it's not really a very compelling story that's being told by the numbers. And getting back to the, I guess, the rate question. You know, I do think that if we move forward with the power authority, one of the reasons, you know, I voted to move forward is because of the 3% discount over... SoCal Edison, which was going to benefit the 96% of people that maybe aren't going to be in the smart choice or clean renewables. So I think that's, for me, that's really important if we decide to move forward. But I appreciate the presentation tonight, and I have no doubt about your guys' ability to deliver on the operational side. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. I would say that that smart choice, it's a bargain. You'll see when the power content label comes out soon for both SC and OCPA, you'll see that that smart choice delivered 95% between renewable energy and carbon free energy, 95% renewable and carbon free energy. So it's a bargain, and it's priced well, and it's a reason why About 50% are at the basic choice. All the others are between the smart choice and the 100% choice. But you're right in terms of the numbers. And we are aiming to present to our board of directors, even though this was a transitional year for us, we are aiming to go back to what we've learned from the past, which is to have a basic product which is less than SE. And then also to deal with the other products where we do give our commercial customers some sort of predictability that they've been wanting.

Yeah, I think that would be good to have kind of a hybrid option if that is the case. You know, one of the things that was talked about in the comments was competition and how competition is supposed to bring down price. It doesn't seem like it's bringing down the price, at least not at this time. So for those who think that competition is going to bring you lower prices, I guess I would push back a little bit on that with what we've seen so far. And, you know, one thing I will note, though, is that the Southern California Edison, they do have a green rate, which is, you know, the option for renewable energy, but it's fully subscribed. So even if you wanted to get on their green program, you couldn't. I do see a kind of a legitimate argument that those that do want to have renewable energy, that with OCPA there could be a choice. So those are my comments. I think we need to figure out if we're going to make a decision on this that's not in our current direction, what would be the dates that we'd have to hit in order to do that.

If I could, I would just say that in terms of competition, that it's not only about the rates, it's about the overarching kind of idea of affordability. And rates are just one part of your affordability. When you're basically investing money in customer programs that are all aimed at reducing your energy consumption and reducing your cost, that is also about affordability. Some can say that maybe the programs don't go far enough. I think the programs that we've launched and the programs that are part of other agencies that we're helping bring to Orange County are really moving the dial. But let's say some folks differ in terms of whether the effectiveness. If OCPA didn't exist, those programs wouldn't exist. The only thing you would have is Southern California Edison. Our programs are all filling the gap. and complementing what you already get with Edison. So it's an added value. So competition is increasing the customer excellence. You heard tonight a lot of folks talking about customer service, customer excellence. So competition increases not only the affordability, but customer excellence increases the options. The ability to tailor some of the programs to your needs, I think, are all part of that competition as well. Councilman Grandes?

Yeah, so a couple things. One thing with competition too, you say that it's really not having an effect. I would argue that if there wasn't competition, how much higher would the rates be today than they are even, which is really high. So I don't think there's a simple answer to that one. Also, I want to make sure people understand, this is something new to Orange County. It's not new to California. Again, there are 200 cities throughout the state that participate in a CCA, which OCPA is one of, how many are there? 25. 25 throughout the state. There's 15 million people participating. So don't feel like we're gambling with your life here, like this is something brand new. This is new to Orange County. What's the reserve balance?

Currently $45 million.

So we have a reserve balance of $45 million. Ms. Johnson mentioned that we used reserves of $45 million, and we're going to, Fountain Valley rate payers are going to have to pay it. I look at it the opposite. We're walking in and have reserves of $45 million without putting a penny in yet. So I think we're in a big advantage. I'll turn that around on you there. Huntington Beach dropped out. Why did Huntington Beach dropped out? I don't think we gave a really straight answer on that. There's two reasons in my opinion, this is an opinion. One is we had a new council that came in that basically reversed Just about everything the old council did, so I believe it was a lot of politicalness there. The second thing is, the old council, I think, made a mistake. And when they started with OCPA, as did Irvine, they started everybody at the 100% rate. So you're right, they were way more expensive than Edison because, I shouldn't say way more, but they were paying everybody at the 100% rate. We're not doing that in Fountain Valley. We're bringing everybody in at the basic rate. So I would have voted if we had to bring everybody in at the 100% rate, I would have voted no, because that's not right. That's not the choice. Vested and Trueblood asked a question about the liability to Fountain Valley. So I don't know if Scott Smith is here. There you are. I don't know if Scott or Colin or who wants to answer this. But if we join this, well, we have joined this JPA. We are a member. As a member, if OCPA makes the catastrophic something and they get sued and they go out of business, what is the liability to Fountain Valley as a JPA member?

The JPA has a limitation that the individual city members are not liable for the debts of the JPA. There's a lawsuit.

So I hope that answers your question, Mr. Trueblood. So the liability, the citizens, they couldn't hear you, Colin, I'm getting told.

So if the JPA has a judgment against it and for whatever reason needs additional funds, goes into the red, the individual city members are not liable for that. That's a JPA expense.

Earlier, somebody said the taxpayers are responsible. The taxpayers are not responsible. So I just want to make sure that's clear. Talked about Huntington Beach County. Let's see. There was one other thing. Somebody, I think Mr. Ruff mentioned that it seems like we're always going along with whatever staff says. I literally meet with staff twice a week, every single week, at least on average twice a week. And let me tell you, I don't agree with everything that goes forward. But they get the feedback from us before the meeting. They make adjustments to what they're bringing forward. And in a lot of cases, what they originally proposed, the board members advise them to do something differently. So I just wanted to explain that just a little bit. That being said, the bottom line is this. I am somebody who wants to pay literally a cup of coffee at Starbucks a month, one cup of coffee for 100% green energy over regular basic choice. You may not want to, but that's my choice, and I should be allowed to do that. I grew up in Fountain Valley. I went to Fountain Valley High School, and I remember the days of we can't go out and do PE this day because of smog. You remember the smog days all the time, especially this time of year in Fountain Valley and all over Southern California. And the environmental agencies made changes. Well, greenhouse gases, you may not believe this, doesn't matter. To me, I do, and I think it's an issue. And if we can do everything that we can, hopefully I have grandchildren one day, crossing my fingers, I really hope so. But I would hope my grandchildren, the greenhouse effects that are being felt right now don't happen. So all I'm saying, Council Member Constantine, is you don't have the right to tell me That I don't have the choice to go to 100%. You want to opt out to Edison? God bless you. That's your right. Leston, we talked about it on email. You want to stay with Edison? You have that choice. Everybody has the right to choice. So there was some people that said, we didn't get to vote on it. Well, yeah you do. You're getting to vote on it by opting in or opting out. That's your vote. And we heard it should take a minute to make that decision. So with that, I'm glad that we're in OCPA. I'm glad we have choice. And I'm glad that we're moving forward. Mr. Mayor, I have one quick statistic.

Thank you. I googled Lake Forest was a founding member and the city council members voted there in February 2021, more than five years ago, to exit. So that tells you something. This company is not- What does that tell you? I'm sorry. It tells you this was not started up last night. They've been in business for more than five years here. Agreed. No, not really, because to the convenience, we're being led to believe, well, there's only a couple of cities part of this, Boynton Park, Fullerton, and Irvine, and give it a chance and all this. No. And that's it. Thank you.

I'm sorry, you haven't given a reason to go.

I've given plenty of reasons. I had a bad feeling in October 2024 when I voted on it. I couldn't specifically say. I feel nauseous now. I had a very bad feeling in November of 2024. There's so much wrong with this. Don't even go there. Thank you.

Council Member Constance, you told me specifically and directly that you were upset that this was not going to go forward in October because you wanted to make this your campaign issue.

No, no, no, that's not true.

You specifically said that. Don't go there.

That's a lie. That is not true. I never said that to you. How dare you lie? That is not true. I've never made a campaign promise, so don't even go there. The reality is- We should even be having this discussion. There's so many holes in this situation. This is not appropriate. And don't ever say that I said something I never ever would consider saying. Thank you.

You did.

I did not.

Okay, so our 45-minute study session has almost gone two hours, but we appreciate the time from OCPA for coming out tonight. We appreciate all of the speakers, and I think, Councilman Bowie, you have one more comment?

I'm not sure if you want to say anything else beside that, or just to wrap it up.

Yeah, I think we've got a lot of meeting to go. We've got 19 items tonight. We've got very patient people waiting in the foyer, the lobby.

Mr. Mayor, we need to have clarification where we're going to go going forward. I mean, that's the whole purpose of this, am I not correct?

This was a discussion item, and we're continuing forward because I continue to support the efforts. And I think we've heard from all of the council that this is why we're here discussing this. Okay. We continue to support it. Are there any other questions or comments from the council?

Yeah, I just have a few questions for Mr. Buskell. The CEO of OCPA. You mentioned earlier that it costs 13 cents or 14 cents a kilowatt on the generation rate for the basic choice. But I think in the future when you speak about cents, I think you should speak globally, which is actually the total cost is almost 44 cents per kilowatt, not 13 cents. And I was doing the math. I think if you go by cents, people can't see it. It looks such a small number. But when you do the math, it's about 12% more than OCP, than SC currently right now. That is based on an average of 523 kilowatt per hour. That's an average. But for those who consume more, let's say 800 kilowatt, with that difference in sense you mentioned, it's about almost a 53% increase higher. If you compare with SE, so if you go by percentage, I think the public could see it better. Visualizations of cost difference rather than sense, I think it's kind of misleading on that aspect. I want to know, you mentioned, or my colleague mentioned, there's a $45 million reserve. And he's talking about suitability. He's talking about if OCP gets sued. My question is, if one of the city currently on there goes bankrupt, what's going to happen to the existing city?

I'm sorry, the question is if one of our member agencies goes bankrupt?

Right, like one of the city, because we've been hearing Fullerton is on the financial concern on their operations. So if they go bankrupt, what's going to happen to other city? Are they going to pick up the bills for the city that bankrupt? What's going to happen?

So as your attorney said, in terms of your city's liability, there is no liability for Fountain Valley.

Yeah, I'm not sure that was the question that the council member was asking.

I'm not sure that I understand the question then.

If the city of Fullerton goes bankrupt- It sounds like there's one less person putting into the pot if there's- Exactly. Anybody that needs to go into the pot.

All right. But in terms of any liabilities, your city would not be liable for anything if that's related to or associated with a bankruptcy for another city. In terms of hypothetically, if another city went bankrupt, how would that change the cost calculation? All I could say is it would change the cost calculation, but we'd have to take a look at that. We're also, our revenue requirement would go down. So if I'm not purchasing energy for that member agency, I'm certainly not.

Yeah, hold on a sec. So if Holderton, I mean this is. Quite the stretch. If Fullerton goes bankrupt, their residents still need electricity, and they're still buying electricity. It has nothing to do with the city going bankrupt. Now the city themselves may not be able to pay their portion of that city's power bill. So is that what you're asking? because the residents still have to pay their bill if Fullerton goes bankrupt, which is not going to happen.

Well, if the city's going to go bankrupt, that's what I'm trying to say. How is that going to affect those who are on board with OCPA? And how is that going to affect OCPA?

It won't change anything. If Fountain Valley went bankrupt, do you think that I have to stop paying my electric bill?

Yeah, I currently want that respond from OCPA.

I would be happy to look into it for you. It's a hypothetical that we've not thought about, but I'd be happy to look at it. It doesn't appear that it would impact anything that we're talking about today, but I'd be happy to look into it.

Okay, thank you, Joe. To the gentleman earlier, ask the questions in terms of opt in and opt out. What there's a rule is it's a government statute, Public Duty Section 366.2. So once the city decides to join OCPA, we are automatically, all of the residents are automatically in it. We just can't opt out. It is up to them to opt out because of that rule. Okay, I just wanted to have a clarification on that. Someone, we talked about competitions and predictability. And I agree that change and choice is good. But if the price is higher than SCE, then in my opinion, predictability is less important. And two, I mean, a lot of people have heard today, it's very complicated. But at the end of the day, if my bill is higher than SE, then I have an issue with that. And that's why last time I vote based on your previous model, which is I think you call the index model. That I'm okay, because I always looked at our resident would pay lower than SE. But your current model, I'm not sure I'm okay with that model. I understand that you talk about the predictability. I understand that in the average moment, yeah. At the end of the day, if wherever SE goes up or lower, and we stoop lower, it's still lower. That's the way I look at it. Exactly.

Council Member Buoy, I agree with you on this. And as the representative for the city of Fountain Valley, when we come to setting our rates for next year, I will be pushing very hard for the index rate again.

Okay, that's all I have to say for now.

May, if I can wrap it up, the conversation. So the city of Fountain Valley is currently part of the OCPA. We are a member of OCPA. And so the understanding right now is that it will go live in April of 2027. There will be 60 days in advance for any of those that would like to opt out when we are part of OCPA transition. And then they would notify 60 days before, 30 days before, and then there's also a 60-day potential window after April 1st. And so if Fountain Valley residents do want to stay with SCE, you do have that choice to stay or you can go with OCPA once it's live on April 1st of 2027. There will be a lot of community outreach, both from OCPA and also from staff from the city of Fountain Valley to ensure that the resident is aware of the transition. And so we will update you as we progress along.

So it goes live on April Fool's Day, right?

Councilman Bui.

Councilman Granis, I'm happy to hear that you said that you will fight on the next cycle. Can you explain on this particular cycle why you did not fight for that index?

For a couple reasons. Based on the financial state of OCPA for the year, A. B was I was very much supportive of making sure that the 2025 rate did not increase, that it stayed steady for the year, so I was in favor of that as well. And three, the other four board members were definitely in favor of this, and their residents were customers, and ours this year are not. So, to me, to try to override the other council members, I didn't think would be fair. But for next year, I am very confident we're going to have an index rate again.

Okay. Any other comments? Okay, thanks. We're done. Thank you so much.

Oh, yeah.

All right. We're now going. Yes. You got to restart Zoom? Okay. We're going to take a two-minute recess.

Thank you. . . . Thank you. ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¦ ¦ the order at 723 start with the invocation if you could please rise welcome John Borak

City Council, truly my pleasure to be able to offer a brief word of prayer as we begin the meeting. Heavenly Father, as we gather together this evening, we ask your spirit of unity to be present among us in the city council chambers. Help us to put aside any personal agendas or differences and work together in harmony toward our common goal, doing what is best for the city of Fountain Valley. In Psalm 133, it states, behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity. Let this be our desire as we engage in discussions and make important decisions that impact our community. Lord, we give thanks to you tonight for your humble servants, our mayor, our city manager, our city staff, and our city council members. Help give them guidance and wisdom as they discuss the issues on tonight's agenda. May our words this evening be filled with love and respect for one another, and may our actions reflect the unity we strive for. In your holy name we pray, amen.

Thank you, John. Next will be our salute to the flag by Councilwoman Kim Constantine.

Please join me in the salute to the flag. Ready, begin.

I pledge allegiance to

Thank you very much. Next is City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority roll call. Council Member Bowie.

Here. Council Member Constantine. Here. Council Member Grandes. Here. Vice Mayor Vice Chair Harper.

Here.

Mayor Chair Kenean. Here. All members are present. Thank you. Are there any supplemental communications? We do have some. They have been provided to the City Council and to members of the public.

And are there any items to report out of closed session?

There are, Mr. Mayor. On item number two, there was a vote 5-0 to allow the city attorney to commence the abatement process. On items one through four, there was no reportable action.

Okay, thank you. Next, we'll move into city manager update. City Manager Lee.

Yes, thank you, Mayor and City Council. I wanted to inform the public that City Hall will be closed on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. for Employees Day at Summerfest. The Mayor will go into a little bit details about our annual Summerfest. I also want to introduce Akiko Kiyoki, a guest from Hekinen City. From Japan, Tam Nguyen, a Fountain Valley resident and a board member of the Housing and Community Development Advisory Board, and Frank Iguchi, president of the Huntington Beach Sister City Program. Kiko is homestaying with Tam Nguyen family and my family through June 25th to experience Fountain Valley and Fountain Valley Summerfest. We have a sister city advisory committee and have been in communication with Hekin and city mayor Koiki for the past few months. The goal is to establish a sister city relationship between the two communities. Ideally in 2027, we are in a phase of a relationship building to learn about each other's communities. Hekinon City has a population of 72,864 with 29 139 households. The city is approximately 14 square miles. Other communities the advisory is evaluating are Sakura City and Fukushima, our first mayor, Kano's hometown. Kiko, do you want to go ahead and say hi and tell your age? and what you like so far on your trip.

My name is Kiko. I'm 21 years old now. I think Huntingbury is a wonderful place with a lot of nature. And I'm enjoying my time here. Thank you.

And then I believe Kiko have some present gifts for the city council. So if you want to share with us. And then Mr. Tam Nguyen and Mr. Frank, if you would like to add a comment, you're welcome to do that too.

Thank you. All right. All right.

All right, here we go. One, two, three. One, two, three. All right.

Okay, okay, I'll just keep it brief. You speak first?

Yeah. Hi, my name's Tam Nguyen, honored to serve as host family for KIKO. It's been amazing for my family to have our guest from Japan. We look forward to visiting her family as well. I know her mom's a mayor and she's been such a great ambassador for Japan and enjoying everything from In-N-Out and Pho here in Fountain Valley.

My name is Frank Eguchi. I'm president of Huntington Beach Sister City Association. We have programs like student exchange and adult delegation exchange with our sister city in Japan, which is Anjo. Happens to be right next to Hekinan City, Kiko is from. So I'm very happy Fountain Valley is considering a sister city in Japan because I see a lot of potential collaborations with Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. As well as Hekinan City, right next to our sister city, Anjou, south of Nagoya. So I'm very happy about the values concerning sister city in the future. Hopefully, you'll choose Hekinan. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay, for the mayor's update, Southern California Edison SCE will be replacing their vault that is located near the intersection of Euclid Street and Warner Avenue. SCE will notify residents in the adjacent residential quadrants for any upcoming power outages needed to facilitate completion of the work. Construction began on June 1st, 2026 and is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the end of July 2026. Due to traffic control, expect delays when traveling eastbound on Warner Avenue between Ward Street and Euclid Street. Detour signs and message boards will be posted for the duration of the work. We thank everyone for your patience during the construction period. La Copia and Ellis Playgrounds will be closed for maintenance. The playgrounds at those two parks will be closed for maintenance beginning Monday, June 15, 2026 at 7 a.m. Temporary fencing will be installed to prevent access to the rubber play surface during the maintenance activities. The playground is scheduled to reopen on Friday, June 19th at 5 p.m. And please feel free to call 714-593-4612 if you have any questions regarding the closures or maintenance being performed. Senior Expo, join us Wednesday, June 17th, that's tomorrow, at The center at Founders Village, it's on Bouchard Street from 9.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. to check out the resources offered for today's seniors. Discover a variety of vendor booths, health screenings, and vital information. There will be door prizes, opportunity drawings, giveaways, music, and free food. Did I say free food? Free food. All right, don't miss out on the information that can help you be healthy, enjoy life, and plan for the future. Thank you to our big kahuna sponsors, Memorial Care, Cal Optima Health, and Sorentis Clinical Research. Summerfest, June 18th to the 21st. Join us Thursday, June 18th through Sunday, June 21st for the highly anticipated event of summer, FV Summerfest. Come out and enjoy live music. All weekend long, carnival rides and games, a beer and wine garden, food and retail vendors, and much more. Admission is $5. Special perks at the park all weekend long will include, on Thursday, a $3 ride night and $22 on-site unlimited ride wristbands. On Friday the 19th, it's $5 beer and wine night, along with the country kickback. On Saturday the 20th, Comes with the Hyundai firework show. And then on Sunday, let's celebrate dad on Father's Day. For information or to purchase your tickets, visit summerfestfv.com. And that concludes my mayor's update. Okay, next we've actually moved the council member items for future consideration up to the front part of the meeting. And so now I'm going to open it up for items for future consideration. Are there any members who have any items?

I have one.

Councilwoman Constantine.

Well, after what we just heard in the study session, I propose that the city of Fountain Valley seeks to get us out of that contract, cancel the contract with OCPA, which is the Orange County Power Authority. That's my thought.

I have a comment.

Vice Mayor Harper.

I'm not going to second the motion, but I do think that we should maybe bring it up. I think we should. Determine a timeline, a calendar, like if we were going to withdraw, what would be the appropriate date? But at this time, I will not second that motion. I do think if we can get the indexed rate, then I think I'm good with it. Thanks.

Okay. Councilman Bowie? So, Council Vice Mayor Harper, are you proposing that as an item of future consideration?

No, I'm just saying I think we should know what the calendar is for withdrawing if that's something we in the future decide. Is it December 31st? Is it October 1st? So we know what that date is.

As a representative, I'll commit to get that for you and present it as part of AB 1234 in the future.

Any other items for consideration? All right, let's move into presentations. First, we're going to have recognition of the Fountain Valley High School Leo Club for the recognition as Club of the Year. Are the Leo Club members in the house? All right, all right. So let me read a little bit of background. Welcome. So Fat Valley Leos don't just participate, they lead. Being named District 4L4 Club of the Year for 2025-2026 is not simply an award, it is a powerful reflection of their passion, service, and extraordinary commitment to the communities they serve. This honor carries special significance as District 4L4 represents a wide and diverse region spanning Orange County, parts of Los Angeles County, and parts of San Bernardino County. To be recognized among so many outstanding clubs is a true testament to the dedication and impact of every member of the Fountain Valley Leo Club. This past year, the Fountain Valley Leos demonstrated what it means to serve with purpose. They partnered with the city of Fountain Valley to bring joy to local families by preparing thousands of plastic eggs for the Mile Square Park Easter egg hunt. They celebrated unity and culture by actively participating in the Fountain Valley High School Culture Fest. Their impact extended far beyond single events. In partnership with the Orange County Korean American Lions Club, they helped create over 15,000 meals, directly supporting individuals and families facing food insecurity. They also showed their commitment to environmental responsibility by taking part in multiple beach cleanups, helping preserve the beauty of our coastline. Through their strong collaboration with the Huntington Beach Host Line Club, they consistently demonstrated leadership and reliability where they're cooking and serving at the city camp out, supporting the Santa breakfast, or helping run the annual crab fest fundraiser. What truly sets the Fountain Valley Leos apart, however, is their dedication beyond the local level. At the district level, they helped bring joy to families through the Ronald McDonald House Trunk or Treat, and provided comfort through baking days for families in need. They supported meaningful causes, including pediatric cancer fundraising through events like the Leo Roller Skating for a Cause. At the state level, they continue to grow as leaders, attending the California Lions Convention, participating in the Walk for a Cause, leadership seminars, and completing first aid training to better serve their communities in the future. The Fountain Valley Leo Club represents the very best of what youth service can be, a club that doesn't just attend events, but leads them. A club that doesn't just volunteer, but creates meaningful impact. A club that doesn't just grow, but inspires others to grow alongside them. So this recognition is not only about what they have accomplished, it is about how they have accomplished it, with heart, with teamwork, and with an unwavering commitment to serving others. Please join us in honoring the Fountain Valley Leo Club, truly deserving of the title Club of the Year. And so I would like to, yes. So if I could bring up Cohen Nguyen to come up and accept, okay. So on behalf of the City of Fount Valley, we want to recognize the Fount Valley High School Leo Club for 2025-2026 District 4L4 Club of the Year. Congratulations. And on behalf of our supervisor for District 1, Janet Nguyen, she also wishes to present the certificate of recognition to the Fountain Valley High School Leo Club. Congratulations. But wait, there's more. You've also been recognized by the California Assembly, our local Assemblyman Trita from the 70th District. This is a very nice certificate of recognition, much bigger. Okay, not to be outdone. Fountain Valley High School Leo Club being named as the club of the year and dedication to serving the community, congratulations.

councillor do you want to take a stretch come on down all right

Okay, next we're going to have a recap of the annual ICSC conference presentation by Assistant Planner Ron Vargas and Management Analyst Victor Viramontes. Welcome.

Good evening Mayor Canina and honorable city council. Today we're going to be providing an update on the economic development action plan implementation and also providing an update or a recap of the innovating commerce serving communities ICSC Vegas conference that we recently attended. First a little quick timeline here as far as how we got where we're at right now. The main thing here to point out is the EDAP was originally adopted in November 2023, so we're quickly coming up to three years since we adopted the plan. The way the plan is organized, there's several focus areas, and then there's action items related to those focus areas. So these are some highlights for 25, 26, including an action item of creating a hotel and restaurant guide. So we have a draft put together that we've been going with to the and we've been, so we have a draft, I think we're pretty close to kind of getting that finalized. We did a comprehensive update to the shopping center retail guide, which we added hotels in there. So that was recently done. We're looking probably to do another update pretty soon on that too. Action item working with hotels for package deals. So we talked to the and they both agreed to provide discount codes. So that's going to be included in the hotel guide here once we get that all wrapped up. Focus area here is for city hall engagement, a couple action items. Develop a toolkit for businesses of available programs, just like resources for businesses. So we did a Fountain Valley Small Business Conference. We held that in February this year and it was attended by 74 entrepreneurs, we work with SBDC on that. They provide the speakers, we provide the facility, and also the chamber, two chamber helped us get the word out. Then we had a resource fair where there was a bunch of business resources available for all the attendees. We've been more actively promoting SBDC and SCORE business learning opportunities on social media. So if you guys have been seeing those, but we've been trying to get those out and make sure it's going out to our residents. For the action item, develop a strategic foreign direct investment plan. One thing we did this year is we attended the Select LA Conference, which is put on by the LAEDC. So it's kind of one day conference for trade, cultural exchange. We were able to meet folks from a couple of different consulates. And there may also be more FDI opportunities through the Orange County Business Council. They now have a FDI committee, so we're going to start looking to maybe get involved with them on that. Continuing on city hall engagement, strengthening social media presence. So this year we've done several Mayor's Message working with PCTA and filmed a couple of social media clips that featured Fountain Valley businesses. And that's a couple of list of the businesses that we included this year. Continuing on city hall engagement, featuring new business successes and new openings. So we're actively trying to be consistent in kind of highlighting new businesses in the Fountain Valley newsletter. So we're making sure we're conscious of that and we've had a couple grand openings this year. actively participate in industry organizations and community engagement. So we've been working closely with the chamber. We worked on several initiatives including the Fountain Valley Small Business Conference and we regularly attend their board meetings. So we're truly trying to get a collaboration with the chamber there. So the focus area here is restaurant and nightlife. So explore the possibility. Actually, I'm exploring the possibility of a night market. So we had a night market that we started over at the Fountain Bowl. 20 to 5 ran through most of the year there. Fountain Bowl has some new leagues coming in. So it looks like we're not going to be able to continue it there. But we're looking for the vendor wants to come back. And we want them to come back. So we're starting to look and trying to identify a permanent location for them. So we'll continue to work on the night market. Other economic development activities, conduct a survey of small business communities. So we collaborated with the SBDC and then the chamber. SBDC does an annual small business survey and they welcome cities to come on board to help promote it. So we kind of took them up on that offer and we wanted to make sure we got a good response from our Fountain Valley businesses. So their survey included Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino counties, they had about 1,200 responses and they received 32 responses from Fountain Valley businesses. So this is Focus Area Shopping Center. So this action item is to participate in trade shows. So this is the ICSC, this year attended the Western Conference in Palm Springs, and the ICSC Las Vegas Conference, May of this year, which we take our city booth there. And so that kind of leads us into a recap of the ICSC event. So who do we meet with? We meet with the varied real estate representatives, developers, retailers, representatives from some of our current centers, and then consultants also. So it's a one and a half day pretty much is what it kind of comes out to. And then there's a half day where we kind of bring everything down and close up shop there. So a couple major takeaways from ICSC this year. So Newmark, they represent several restaurants that want to be in Fountain Valley. So our current retail vacancy rate at 0%. So 0.7% is what we just checked right now. So not a whole lot out there, but we do know restaurants want to come to the city. Realty Income, who owns the center corner with the Curacao. They advised that they extended their lease, so they're going to be there, looks like, for the foreseeable future. We talked about maybe exploring the addition of potential restaurant pads in their parking area, so that might be some options there. Housing developers still interested in coming to Fountain Valley, but there's limited opportunities right now. And we talked with representatives of the former Chase building on Garfield at Magnolia. Chase is still playing on that, the building, and their lease is going to continue going until 2033. So they're actively marketing it, but that's going to be a challenging site as far as eventually getting something there. SRI advisors, they provide an update on the Mimi's Cafe, so it's unknown if Mimi's going to renew their lease. So they're exploring options, and we've been talking about them, about helping them with the potential options and city questions that they may have. So earlier we talked about we're coming up soon on the three year of our current economic development action plan. So we're starting to look into kind of the next steps, and so we have kind of a timeline to do possibly an update. So we're looking at maybe October, November, doing an RFP awarding agreement in December 26, and then getting the consultant started in the gathering information phase. January 27, and then hopefully have a new EDAP adopted by June 2027. So we're starting a couple of consultants at ICSC, and we kind of started talking about opportunities there for that. Kind of as we've been implementing this current one, we kind of talked about where are some kind of focus areas and challenges that maybe we'll address in the new EDAP. And then we're talking about maybe looking at the crossing specific plan again, taking another look at that. Tight markets for retail, industrial, and office. So how can we kind of address that if we still want to do business attraction but there's not a whole lot of options there. So we're going to maybe talk about that during that. Cost of commercial kitchens, that has been a real obstacle. as far as anyone trying to open a restaurant in the city. Part of the reason the soup plantation was vacant for so long is just that cost of a commercial kitchen. And then support for manufacturing businesses. We still have significant manufacturers in the city, so we want to make sure whatever we come up with, that we include them on there. And that's it.

All right. Thanks for that presentation. Are there any comments from council? Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. Can you go back to the first slide to talk about the hotel guide? I think it was.

Yeah.

So this one, where is that available? Is that in print form?

We have like a really close draft, but we kind of haven't finaled it yet. So we got some last comments from the Sinesta on it. So we're kind of in the process of getting their last comments in on that.

And then once it's finalized, where will it be circulated, I guess?

It'll be digital, so I mean, we can get it out a bunch of different ways. Now, the focus area here is Mile Square Park. So in the action plan, it talks about our recreation department when we have leagues that come in and they're staying for the weekends and stuff. Like softball tournaments. Yeah, whoever the organizer is for that league, we can make sure we're getting that over to them and getting them to come stay at our Fountain Valley hotels instead of going to our neighboring cities.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Yeah, Vice Mayor Harper, it's a really nice brochure. I picked one up here in the city hall, and it's got, you know, it shows like 37 actual locations.

Pretty cool. Yeah.

It's my gift to you.

Just curious, it seems like this is a big effort, a lot of money, etc. With the vacancy rate of 0.7%, especially in retail, what more can we do? There's not a lot, we could try to get people to come, but there's no room.

Yeah, that's what we're finding that presents some challenging, but I think it's important to still continue to go to the ICSC conferences to continue these relationships with these real estate folks. There will come a time where it's not as good as it is right now. So it's good to have those connections still.

Good evening, Mayor. Members of the city council, I can turn off the opportunity to talk about economic development. And first I want to thank Victor. He's done an amazing job coming into the city and strengthening our team. This is actually Ron's last meeting with us. He's taking a position somewhere else. I want to thank him for his efforts as well. I vote no on that. He didn't let me vote on it either. One of the things we are trying to do is create more space. So in that Carousel Shopping Center, we talked to the property owners to see if we can add some additional pads because we have such a low vacancy rate. And so one of the things that we can do at ICSC and the conferences is not only try to attract more folks, and we make sure we have people that want to come in town, but then also try to either bring them into spaces that we have or maybe create new spaces and show property owners that there is demand and if they build it, that we have somebody that would be interested in it.

Good answer.

I want to say, Victor, thank you very much for a great presentation. And Ron, we're going to miss you for sure. You can't leave. But anyway, we had such a great time at ICSC. Both of you are stellar and really enjoy all the progress Fountain Valley is making. Sometimes businesses close, new ones open, businesses shift around, and it's great to connect with other cities and developers and investors and people really spoke very highly of you guys, both the city and our staff, and it was really a great experience. And thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you.

All right. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, gentlemen.

Thanks, guys.

Okay, our last presentation is a new city-wide recruitment video. Introduction by Human Resources Manager, Tamron Roberts. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Tamryn Roberts, and I'm a Human Resources Manager here with the City of Fountain Valley. I'm pleased to introduce the city's new recruitment video, a project that directly supports one of the city's adopted three-year goals, attracting and retaining quality staff through best practices and emerging recruitment trends. And as you may recall, this video was also a short term goal as part of our six month strategic objective. As competition for qualified employees continues to increase throughout local government, it's important that the city utilizes modern and effective recruitment tools that help us tell a story and showcase what makes Fountain Valley a great place to work. Development of this recruitment video began in January of 2026 and has been a collaborative effort involving staff from multiple city departments. From the outset, our goal was to create a video that authentically represents our organization, our employees, and our community. Rather than relying on stock images or outside actors, we wanted the individuals featured in the video to be the people who make city services possible every day. Representatives from numerous departments participated in the project, allowing us to showcase the wide variety of career opportunities available within the city. The purpose of the recruitment video is threefold. Number one, to showcase our people. We wanted prospective applicants to see the dedicated professionals who serve our community every day and gain a sense of the collaborative culture that exists throughout the organization. Number two, to reflect our workforce. The city is fortunate to have a workforce that represents a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It was important that the video reflect the diversity of our employees and demonstrate that Fountain Valley is a welcoming and inclusive workplace. And finally, number three, to highlight Fountain Valley as a great place to live and work. In addition to showcasing our employees, we wanted to feature the community itself. Fountain Valley offers an exceptional quality of life, outstanding public services, beautiful parks and facilities, and a strong sense of community pride. The video emphasizes not only why someone would want to work here, but also why they want to be a part of the Fountain Valley community. This video will serve as a valuable recruitment tool by enhancing job announcements and recruitment campaigns, providing candidates with a better understanding of our organizational culture, helping our city stand out in a competitive labor market, supporting ongoing efforts to attract highly qualified and engaged applicants, and strengthening our employer brand and reputation as an employer of choice. This video will be utilized across multiple platforms, including the city's website, social media channels, recruitment postings, job fairs, and other outreach efforts. I would like to thank the employees and departments who participated in this project, both as an organizer and a featured employee. Their willingness to share their experiences and represent the city made it possible to create a video that genuinely reflects the people and values that make Fountain Valley such a special organization. And of course, we thank the council for supporting this important endeavor. At this time, I'm pleased to present the city's new recruitment video.

Feels like we need a drum roll.

Since 1957, the city of Fountain Valley has earned its reputation as a nice place to live. Defined by the city's beautiful parks, well-maintained streets, and excellent recreation programs, this reputation didn't happen by chance. It's the result of the people who show up every day, committed to serving the Fountain Valley community.

Working in local government matters to me because it gives me the opportunity to make a direct impact on our community. Coming from a small business in the private sector, working for the city of Mountain Valley has been a great experience for me. It has really brought back a sense of community and collaboration between working with employees. Even though the city is a smaller agency, having the ability to work with so many different faces and so many different perspectives has brought kind of a new light to everything that I do and I really appreciate that opportunity.

Located in the heart of Orange County and home to over 55,000 residents, Fountain Valley is known for its safe neighborhoods, thriving local economy, and outstanding quality of life. Though compact in size, Fountain Valley is a full service city, equipped to serve our community through a comprehensive range of departments, including administration, city clerk's office, community development, finance, fire, human resources, information technology, police, public works and recreation and community services the prestigious nature of the city opens the doors to taking on meaningful challenges alongside a close-knit helpful staff our team is empowered with access to leadership professional development opportunities tuition reimbursement and clear pathways for advancement bringing your best work to the table also requires a healthy workload and our team's work-life balance is outstanding

When you come work for a local government agency, it's a choice. You're making a choice to start some type of career. Whether it be engineering, public works, working for any part of a local government agency, it just opens the doors to any and all opportunities that may come. You may start in one division, and then five years from when you started, you work for someone else in a different division, and they can take a lot better.

In bigger agencies, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. At Fountain Valley, it's more of a tight-knit environment, so you really get to know your colleagues and know how the other departments facilitate because you are so close-knit. And I really enjoy that aspect as compared to bigger agencies. What truly sets Fountain Valley apart is its culture, one that values fresh perspectives, encourages growth, and brings a genuine sense of belonging. Our team is guided by a citywide vision to be a safe, inclusive, and desirable community where everyone can live their best life, and by a mission to deliver exceptional service through a team-oriented approach. That commitment is grounded in core values that shape everything we do. Fiscal responsibility, honesty, integrity, teamwork, excellent customer service, innovation, and a dedication to enhancing quality of life.

has an impact on people that wasn't living with them. Just me contacting one person can actually change their day. The work we do here at Front Valley is really great. The support and the support from my supervisors and my co-workers is something that I've never seen before and really makes me feel like a family rather than just support. If someone was considering a job with the DCA at Palm Valley, I would tell them, don't hesitate to apply today. It's a wonderful place to work, and the slogan is, it's a nice place to live, and it sure is.

The day-to-day is just fantastic, working with your best friends. It's like a second hand.

It's a very small, mid-family organization. I would encourage people to apply here. I love working here. I look forward to coming to work, and I enjoy serving the citizens of the city of Palm Valley.

Joining our team also comes with access to an exceptional benefits package, including CalPERS health insurance plan options, paid vacation and sick time, 11 paid holidays, membership in the California Public Employees Retirement System, flexible spending accounts, generous tuition reimbursement, deferred compensation matching, flexible work schedules such as 410 and 980, employee assistance program, and a bilingual pay program. If you're looking for a career where you can make an impact, Fountain Valley is the place for you. Learn more about joining our team at fountainvalley.gov. All right.

That was great. A round of applause.

Good evening. I just want to thank everyone for their support in this recruitment video. It really is a testament of the wonderful people that work here and serve the community. And thank you, Tamron, for all that you've done for this as well. So thank you.

Great job. Okay, next is First City Council's Accessory Agency Housing Authority public comments on unscheduled matters only. Do we have any requests to speak? We have no requests to speak. OK, next is public comments on scheduled matters only. Are there any requests to speak?

We have a few requests to speak on items 10 and 16, I believe. 10 and 16.

OK. So if it's the pleasure of the council, we'll do those comments at those agenda items? Yeah. OK. Next is consent calendar items one through eight, which will be approved simultaneously with one motion unless separate action or discussion is requested. Are there any items that council wishes to pull? Okay, hearing that, I'll entertain a motion.

Make a motion to approve items number one through eight.

Do I have a second? I'll second. Please vote.

Just waiting for Vice Mayor Harper to vote. Items 1 through 8 pass 5-0.

Okay, we'll move into public hearings. Just a reminder, each person will have up to three minutes to speak on each public hearing. So we'll start with Item 9, Code Amendment 26-03, amending Fount Valley Municipal Code Section 21.18.130. Establishing objective design standards for multi-family and mixed residential projects. Presentation, Deputy City Manager, Community Development Director, Omar Dadaboy, welcome.

Yes, sir. Good evening once again. We have before you this evening consideration of a set of objective design standards to guide future residential and mixed use developments in the city. The reason this item is being presented to you for consideration is that the state continues to fundamentally reshape how housing is being processed and the applications move forward in the city. Traditionally and what you've seen in the last year or two is we brought you entitlement packages that are discretionary that come to the Planning Commission and City Council for your review. However, the state is pushing cities more and more to administratively or by right approval, which means they meet certain criteria. And if they meet those criteria, they get approved. And so there's a number of state laws that have been recently passed that continually push the city in that direction. Recently, you saw an ordinance that came before you that conforms with state law, which requires the city to consider housing projects that provide 20% affordable units to be considered ministerially. That was something that state HCD asked us to do, even though it was part of state law, which the city council did. But once something becomes administrative by right and not an entitlement, our ability to work with the applicant somewhat diminishes, or greatly diminishes, actually. As I said, as long as they meet certain criteria, then that application continues to move forward and get approved. And so what many cities are doing is adopting objective design standards. So right now we have subjective discussions between staff and the applicant in terms of design and, say, number of parking spaces, amenities, those types of things. And so what this does is it creates those objective design standards that are measurable, that developers know that they have to meet. And if they don't meet those and they go through a ministerial process, then their project does not get approved. It does not replace our zoning code. The zoning code still deals with things like setbacks and stepbacks and height limitations. These would be more related to design work. The Planning Commission did hear this at their April 8th meeting, and by a vote of four to zero, did recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance before you. We did receive comments from one of the major landowners in the city. They recommended some changes. We thought there was validity to some of those. And so you have a red line version in front of you with some of those changes incorporated. And now I'd like to turn over the microphone to Alan Loomis. He is with Placeworks. As you recall, Placeworks helped us adopt our new general plan. They helped us with our inclusionary housing ordinance, with our rezones, and this is one of the last items that they are assisting us with to implement our general plan and housing element. So Alan will walk you through some of the major focus areas of the design standards.

Welcome, Alan. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, pleasure to be here this evening. I know you have a busy evening still to come, so I'll endeavor to be efficient in the presentation. That being said, how do I move the slides forward? You can just use the arrow key on the keyboard. Excellent. There we go. So as Community Development Director indicated, the reason we're here is because the state legislature over the past ten years has passed a battery of laws intended to accelerate housing production. And one of the key kind of components of that is pushing approval of housing developments that incorporate affordable units to a ministerial approval. And the cities are now obligated to use what is referred to as objective design standards as they evaluate those proposals and offer them approval or send them back to the drawing board. One of those state laws, Senate Bill 35, one of the early ones, does provide a definition of what is meant by objective design standards. So this is the definition that comes out of the California Government Code. And so you can see one of the kind of key components is an external or uniform benchmark that an applicant can know before they submit the application. What does that look like in practice? Well, on the left-hand side of this table, you have subjective design guidelines, which is what cities have relied on for many years to evaluate projects. And so it's not uncommon that cities might have adopted design guidelines and the kind of key criteria that's being used as a phrase like is on the bottom left. Development should fit the character of the community. Well, under the current state law, there's a lot of ambiguity about that. What does character mean? What does community mean? Does community mean the entire city? Does it mean just the immediate neighborhood? How big is that immediate neighborhood? Is it the immediate block? Or is it just the two parcels directly adjacent to the development in question? All of that is unknown with that kind of language. Whereas on the right hand side you have language like will, shall, must, and then very kind of clear sort of statements of intent that could be measured or kind of evaluated objectively. To put this into visual terms, the illustrations on the left are not from Fountain Valley. They're from other communities, but they're pretty typical of the kinds of illustrations cities design guidelines might have used in the past. So it's about the modulation of building heights and the kind of up and down pattern of roof lines. So if you could even read the many Xerox times over illustration, I still would not tell you exactly what is expected other than to have some different roof forms. The illustration on the right is the exact same discussion and the proposed objective design standards that are in front of you for Fountain Valley. So it provides very clear definitions about what's expected. The illustrations on the right relate to the modulation of building heights. All those are dimension strings that give very precise dimensions and expectations. So an applicant would know what the expectations are. Your city staff could pull out a ruler and measure whether an applicant actually meets the expectations or not. So in summary, what this, the implications of all of this is that we really need to shift from a sort of format where we would say should please encourage to do this on the design side and move to this kind of very precise shell and must language. And so this now enables What is mandated by the state which is ministerial or effectively over the counter review by your planning staff of qualifying housing development. And becomes the only basis by which your staff could turn projects back to the drawing board. If the development comes forward, doesn't meet the objective design standards, city staff can say you don't meet the standards, go back to the drawing board. the kind of dialogue you would typically have in a public hearing. The state's intention of all this is to make development more predictable and streamline housing development. I'm sorry. So onto the document that's in front of you for consideration, the Planning Commission reviewed a few months ago. It is a standalone document. It exists outside of your development code, so we're not integrating this into the development code, except via a very strategic amendment to your development code that will incorporate this by reference. One of the key features of this is it means that this independent document that we've presented, should you find that it's not working for you, it'll be fairly effective and easy just to amend this individual document without having to open up the entire development code. It will cover single-family, multi-family development, and mixed-use development as indicated in the bullets. The standards will apply citywide. So they will cover the entirety of the city, but they will only apply to new construction. And we do have a definition about how to deal with kind of major renovations. So we're covering ourselves there. And as community development director indicated, these do not change or modify your development code standards that relate to allowable density, allowable height, your basic setbacks, etc. Your existing development code standards remain in place. This is an overlay of design criteria that goes on top of those standards. There's five basic chapters. We have a section on purpose. This is important in that it defines different development scales, small, medium, and large, based on overall acreage or number of units or building height. On the chart on the right, All the standards apply to the large developments, but as you get to the medium or small scale developments, less standards apply. So this is intended to make it more effective and easier for less well financed or kind of small scale developers, your mom and pop developers who have smaller lots to be able to move through the process more effectively. And quite frankly, a number of these standards that we wrote really don't apply to small scale development, but they do to very large development. As mentioned, there is a section that deals with single family development. And so, again, this is related to new construction. One of the key kind of criteria that this is attempting to address is the scale and the size and the footprint and location of second story kind of additions, if you will, new houses that are kind of For homes that are being demolished entirely and then you're building a two-story house in a neighborhood that maybe is historically single family, how are you supposed to position that second floor? There's also some basic criteria for how to make the front of the house attractive. I would say we took pains as we wrote this to try and include in here the things that pretty much any homeowner would aspire to. You would want to have an attractive front door and you'd want to have some decoration on the front of the house or maybe a mix of materials. So this is fairly light-handed. Again, intended to apply to new construction, not the renovations of people's existing homes. On the multifamily side, this is where the bulk of the document works. We have a big discussion on site planning and how to organize vehicle circulation on sites. So these sections, for example, only apply to those large sites, not to the small sites that might be under two acres where it's really just one building. we have a pretty extensive discussion on open space. So one of the key kind of components here is that you have standards for a certain amount of square footage of open space per units, and then applicants can sort of decide under the current regime, kind of decide how they want to distribute that open space. So here we're saying there are specific things we'd like to see in terms of amenities based on the scale of the development. It is nonetheless a sort of menu option, so we say, If you're a development, for example, between 21 and 30 units, you either have to provide us with one major amenity or two minor amenities. And then we define what we mean by a major amenity or minor amenity. So an applicant has the ability to tailor their project based on how they intend to market the project, who they see their future residents to be, etc. So there's still a high degree of choice, but what those amenities are gets pretty precise in the way it's measured. Big discussion on mass and scale that really kicks in when you have buildings that get over three stories tall. So this is your larger multifamily structures such as what's being built across the street. So again, a bunch of standards that relate to the articulation of the upper floors of that building being set back or kind of terraced in some fashion. Some standards that relate to preventing a giant blank facade and having the sort of in-out patterns of, you know, that facade having some degree of sort of articulation. And then some special thinking about, like, if buildings occupy corners or other unique sites, how they should address architecturally those kind of particular characteristics. Discussion on material details, the recessing of windows, all that sort of is covered here. And then some standards related to mixed use that go beyond what's in your zoning code, which is kind of a proto version. Your zoning code today has objective design standards related to mixed-use development. We helped write those as part of the general plan effort, so they're sort of the beginning of an objective design standards that you already have. We're building on this by trying to talk about how entries should be located for vertical mixed-use, where you have commercial on the ground floor, residential above, or what you should do when you have one site with a commercial building sitting next to a residential building and potentially a parking garage that might service one or both of those uses. So we have standards associated with those problems. As the Community Development Director indicated, after we went to Planning Commission, we received a letter from one of the development companies active in the city. They had very specific comments that are based on their experience doing development in Fountain Valley and kind of the Orange County region. We looked at most of those and thought they're perfectly sound and legitimate comments based on construction logic. And so the red line version that's in front of you that we'd be asking you to adopt, those incorporate the majority of those comments and be prepared to kind of talk through any of those if you are so inclined. And so with that, I thank you for your time and attention and leave it with the recommendation from Community Development Director.

Great. Thanks so much. I'll open up to comments from Council. Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. I had a couple of questions. So you mentioned it applies to single-family, multi-family, mixed-use, so not industrial, commercial, I guess because there's no ministerial rules.

Correct. For better or worse, the state of California legislature doesn't seem to care if it takes you 10 years to entitle a car dealership or an industrial building, but they do care how long it takes you to get housing development online.

Okay. And for a single family, you mentioned there's some standards in there. What would be an example of a single family ministerial approval type of a project?

Can I turn to the community development director on that one?

So this was also meant to satisfy some of the issues we're having with infill development. So if you build a single family home, there's no entitlement currently. You just go through a ministerial process. And so we wanted to make sure we covered one unit being built, two units being built, as we have in the city.

So how is it different from what we do now?

It just covers, so we have some very dated, I say 30 or 40-year-old standards for infill that are outdated. And so this covers a line of sites and to other people's windows and backyards and those types of things if you're putting a home in a single-family area and infilling.

Okay. But it's different from the multifamily ministerial projects?

Yes. And this is one of the areas the Planning Commission Chair actually wanted us to come back with and delve a little deeper into, which we'll do in the near future.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. Councilwoman Constantine.

So I've looked through now a couple of times. I don't have a red line version. Do we know what specific pages Mr. Sakioka has a situation with?

Rick, did we provide the red line version?

I don't see anything red in here, and I literally just went page by page, not knowing that there was anything like this. So while we're waiting on that, so how does this potentially change what's across the street? I mean, it's not going to change it because it's already approved, but looking at the big scheme of things, if this would have been the case that this might have been approved back in 2022, What might have been affected, a light version of that, what for the former boomers lot at Magnolia Park, and Warner and then the Euclid and Heil, just some nuances that if this had been approved before those had gone through, technically speaking.

So since those were discretionary projects, we would have still had the same discussion. We hopefully would have gotten to the same point. This allows us to, even if it's a discretionary permit, still rely on these standards. So it does still impact those projects, but we still, with those discretionary projects, have the ability to negotiate with the developer.

I'm not crazy for this. Most people think I like a lot of government, but This is a California state thing, am I not correct? Yes. Are other states doing this?

So right now we're kind of unprotected. So if somebody comes in for a ministerial project under one of those bills that Alan listed out there, we would not have anything in place that would list out any objective design standards. So those amenities... architectural features, those types of things that we care about in the city, we would not have the ability to regulate that in the way that we need to. So this puts a layer of protection in for the city in case somebody does come back with that type of application.

Sure, and I mean, I'm all for consistency at the counter, and I think we do a really good job of that, but this is kind of heavy. So do we have any news about the red line situation? Or do we have a specific, are there certain pages that we are noting?

I'd say that's for across about ten pages approximately.

Yeah.

The city clerk will be providing you with that copy.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions from council? Yes, while waiting for that.

Oh, she's back. Yeah, okay. Okay. What you're proposing here, I assume it's part reference to the SB 9?

SB 9, AB 2011, there's a bill up for consideration right now, it's AB 1206. So there's a slew of bills that have been passed and that are being considered.

Which is, I understand that this has actually helped protect our city, right, what you're proposing? Yes. But have you communicated with each city prior to this is the road that you want to take and have they given you feedback on what you're trying to propose tonight?

No, and Alan can speak to that because he has experience with other jurisdictions. I think HCD doesn't really have any guidelines on objective design standards, but I think they're in favor of cities adopting them.

Yeah, if I may on this, that is correct. HCD, the state, while they say if you're going to review affordable housing, qualifying developments, and provide ministerial review, you need to do that using objective design standards. They do not, however, tell you exactly how to construct your objective design standards. So that is a matter of local policies. you know if you will the state takes away local control but they give a little bit back on the other in one hand so that's kind of what's happening here so to answer the other question this has not been community communicated to hcd we've not sent this document to them but we have worked in over 20 communities in the state of california that has not been part of the practice the housing community development department does not typically review objective design standards before cities adopt them. And so by what I just said, by 20 plus communities, you're certainly not alone amongst communities adopting objective design standards. Every city in the state of California is working down this path. And so we've done this work from Shasta Lake all the way down to Elisa Viejo and everywhere in between.

Okay, I'm glad that you say that, but my concern here is I don't want us to make one step forward and two step backward. Here's why I'm going with this. Because the city of Anaheim did receive a conflicting reference to the objective standard. As a matter of fact, they received a letter March 24, 2025 from HCD saying that, hey, your objective standard does not primacy the state reference to that, which is the government section code section 65852.21, parenthesis B, parenthesis 3. And it reads as follow. A local agency shall not impose objective zoning standard. That's what we're trying to do. objective subdivision standard and objective design standard that do not apply uniformly to development within the underlying zone. This subdivision shall not prevent a local agency from adopting or imposing objective zoning standard on the development authorized by these sections if those standards are more than applicable standard within the building underlying zone. So Anaheim just received that, they received that in 25. The city of, the town of Los Altos Hill received a letter from ACT January 26th of this year. That's what I'm trying to say. I don't want to do one step forward and two step backward because we'll get challenged by the state. That's why I asked you to have you communicate with ACT on your objective standard.

We have not. We didn't want to get into the practice of sending our ordinances to ACD prior to adoption. What normally happens is they have an enforcement division, so they'll eventually review our code. If they take issue with it, then they'll contact us. They do that regularly with our ADU ordinances, and then we come back to you and make those minor changes. Those two technical, I'm guessing they're technical assistance letters to those cities, sound very specific to something they adopted. I believe Placeworks has done a number of these, as Alan mentioned, and none of them have been challenged. And so we're coming into this after a number of cities have adopted them, and so we have that benefit of that history of not being challenged with ACD. So I'm hoping that will be the case here.

Okay. Well, I just mentioned 2C received the letter from HD challenging the objective standard. And the RS1 zoning, which is residential, is governed by the objective standard, such as lot area, lot coverage setback, so forth. So that's why I'm saying I don't want to make a one step forward, two step backward. We'll make sure we spend adequate time on this.

Yeah, I will say I don't know the, we did not work on Los Altos Hills as far as I'm aware. We're pursuing some work in that region right now. The city of Anaheim, we did assist Anaheim in preparing their objective design standards. And they took the approach of integrating their objective design standards directly into their development code, which kind of opened the door for conflicts with other parts of their development code. They have an extraordinarily complicated code where different parts of the city almost have completely separate zoning codes from other parts of the zoning code. It's an extraordinarily complex zoning code to navigate. So it doesn't surprise me that there's potential conflicts between what they ultimately adopted. But I will also say they've not communicated to us that they're working on specific, that they received letters from HCD that they are attempting to resolve.

Okay, so I guess you're looking for direction for tonight, whether to adopt this or not. I don't know how my other colleagues feel, but for me, it's a no until you communicate with the HCD. Because if this gets approved, what happens is the developers goes in and you force them to go objective standard design, they'll challenge us. And it's going to take to HCD, then we have to fight it. It's going to cost us money. So that's my intake on this until we get a clear direction from HD, then I'm ready to vote. But not until then two city has been received later from them already.

We still need to do a public hearing, but we need the clerk to be here. So are there any other questions from council in the meantime?

Well, I mean, is it something that we could continue if we needed to, or is it time sensitive?

I would say there is some time sensitivity to it if there is an application. We just had one come in for a different project and from our understanding they tried to get that project in prior to the standards being adopted by council so that the application tried to come in before you adopted the objective design standards so that they don't have to meet them. So now you're unprotected. We, again, as an example, we adopt ADU ordinances. If there's a provision within those that ACD objects to, we can go and fix it. But the whole ordinance isn't thrown out, and I believe that would be the case here, where if there was a provision or two that ACD objected to, the whole ordinance wouldn't be thrown out, but those specific provisions may be looked at. But, again, we can have the city attorney weigh on this.

Okay, why don't we go ahead and open the public hearing. Are there any requests to speak?

I have no request to speak on this item. Okay, go ahead and close the public hearing.

All right, any other questions from council? Vice Mayor Harper.

No, I just, I understand Council Member Bowie's concerns. However, I think it's, our practice has always been to adopt the standards using experts like Placeworks in the field. And if HCD has issues with any of it, they can contact us and we'll work it out. So I am supportive of this and I will move the item.

I will go ahead and second.

Mayor, can I read the title? Yes, please. This is an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Fountain Valley approving Code Amendment 2603, amending Fountain Valley Municipal Code Section 21-18-130 to establish city-wide objective design standards for multi-family residential and residential mixed-use development projects. Any final discussion before vote?

Yeah, just one of the clarifications that I'm voting no is because if the applicant is refused because of the objective standard design, then it's going to challenge the city. And when they take to HC, then there's a possibility because they will win on this case, I read the code already. And two cities have received notice from them, one city is removing their standard, their objective standard, or redesigning it. But in the meantime, it costs the city money to respond to the other applicant, so I don't want to put our city in that position. I will be in favor of voting for yes if we present this objective standard to HCD and they say, yep, your objective standard were accepted, then I will vote yes, but not until then.

Mr. Mayor, I have a question. Yes. Okay, so I just received the, looks like we all received the red line version now, but I don't see how we can vote at this moment without, first of all, did you guys have the red line version? Because there's quite a bit of red lining here.

I just went through it, though. It's very minor.

I've been going through it, too.

Is there a particular page that you want to talk about? Well, there's a lot of red. We can take the time to go through. There's about 10 pages.

It's not that much.

I just went through it. Yeah.

Well, they're more developer friendly, that's for sure.

It's all very minor.

I'm fine. I'll vote. Thank you.

Okay, we have a first and second. Please vote.

Item number nine passes 4-1.

Okay, we'll move on to item 10, public hearing and introduction of code amendment 24-01, CA 24-01, precise plan 581, PP 581. And mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring reporting plan for the Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure. Presentation by senior planner, Matt Jenkins, welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the city council. Before you tonight is the Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure project. This includes a code amendment 24-01 and a proposed mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program for this project. for Orange Coast Memorial. The Planning Commission previously reviewed the project and approved precise plan number 581 for the project and recommended approval of the initial study MND and mitigated monitoring reporting program to you tonight. So this slide shows the larger Orange Coast Memorial campus at the southeast corner of Talbert and Brookhurst Street. It consists of five buildings and one existing parking structure. The proposal tonight is to demolish the existing surface parking lot which is in Planning Area 3 on the upper left of the aerial, commonly known as the Foster Lot at the corner of Foster and Talbert Avenue. The project proposes to demolish this surface parking lot with 231 parking spaces for a five-level parking structure for Orange Coast Memorial employees and physicians. So the existing 231 parking space parking lot is directly west of the 9900 Talbert Medical Office building, again at the southeast corner of Foster and Talbert Avenue. The location is surrounded by a variety of different land uses, with commercial to the north and east and south, townhomes to the south, and single-family residential homes to the west and to the north across Talbert Avenue. So again, the project would demolish the existing surface parking lot for the construction of a freestanding parking structure with a basement level, three levels above ground, and a rooftop level for five total levels of parking with 784 parking spaces. The parking structure would have 40 EV charters and would have a pedestrian bridge connecting to the Orange Coast Memorial Campus adjacent to the 9900 Talbert Medical Office building. Again, the parking structure will be 784 parking spaces for Orange Coast Memorial employees, just under 300,000 square feet. The height to the rooftop of the parapet of the structure would be just over 36 feet. Elevator tower height, the freestanding tower next to the Ettinger Medical Group, the Talbert office building, would be just under 42 feet tall. And bridge clearance over Foster Street would be over 18 feet of clearance above the roadway. Here we have the site plan. Entrance to the structure would be from Foster Street, from vehicles traveling south on Foster Street and making a right turn going west into the structure with two lanes for vehicle queuing for up to 22 cars before a gate, automatic gate that will be triggered by either a license plate reader or other electronic device to let employees in. Again, five levels with 784 parking spaces. The basement level consists of 176 parking spaces and is the largest floor area of the structure, which also includes 9,800 square feet of storage for the hospital. The basement level is an important part of the design because it screens part of the structure from view, reducing its overall height adjacent to other land uses. and reduces that mass while being able to provide the parking that the project seeks. Back to the first level of the structure, which consists of 162 parking spaces. Again, vehicles will be traveling with two lanes for the queue to automatic gates entering. Exiting for the structure will be right turn only for eastbound Talbert Avenue travel. Again, there will be automatic gates for vehicles that will be able to be triggered by either license plate readers or other electronic devices to make for a speedier exit for employees exiting. The first level also has the structure was designed with walls built along the first floor to prevent mid-block pedestrian crossings on Foster Street. Currently, if you're familiar with the lot, visitor parking is permitted over here and There's no striped crosswalk across Foster Street farther south of Talbert, so there's a lot of unpermitted pedestrian crossings, quite a few. And so the city has recognized this problem and through the design changes to adding some restrictions with perimeter walls will channel pedestrians towards the crosswalk at Talbert and Foster Street so they can use a signalized crosswalk at Talbert. Or if they're parking on the upper levels, we'll be able to be directed to the pedestrian bridge that's highlighted in the blue on the first level to provide access to the campus at a more central location, closer to where the existing unpermitted crosswalk is today. So our second level. has 160 spaces with about 56,000 square feet. Now since the first design iteration of the project and through meetings and planning commission input, the project was revised and the second level incorporates that revision and you can see a 36 foot setback for the second level to the west property line which is those homes on Lemon Street, the backyards of the single-family homes. So again, on the second level, we have an increased setback of 36 feet to the property line. And that setback carries on the third level as well, a 36-foot setback on the west side, and this will allow for a reduced massing and that reduced presence of the building facing the homes on the west side on Lemon Street. Again, this is the third level with 160 parking spaces being a copy of the second level. And now the rooftop level, which has less than 126 spaces, but a much larger setback to the residential of 64 feet on the west side. So as a part of the project, in order to allow for the development, Code Amendment 2401 is necessary because the existing specific plan anticipated an expansion of the current parking structure rather than construction of a new structure on the foster lot. The amendment updates and makes changes to this plan to allow this parking structure in the Planning Area 3. It also proposes to reduce setbacks along Talbert Avenue for the structure, establishing a height maximum for the structure and vertical elements such as elevator towers. It also updates the parking standards of the specific plan to be in line with the current parking standards for the city. So as I mentioned, the setbacks, the existing setback for Talbert is, I believe it's 50 feet. So the specific plan had to be amended in order to accommodate the proposed setback at 23 feet upon Talbert. The structure will be set back 17 feet to Foster and on the west side, 18 feet on the first level. The second and third levels will be 36 feet and at the top is 64. And on the south side, all levels will be set back 66 feet to the Mariposa Townhomes to the south. And this slide on the left side shows the original design with all three levels being the exact same footprint and with the 18-foot setback to the single-family homes on Lemon Street. After several community meetings and a planning commission meeting study session in August, The applicant came back with a revised tiered design minimizing the massing again towards the homes on Lemon Street. And this section shows this proposal with the revision to the second and third floor and then the top level with a 64-foot setback to the residence to the west. Additional comments from planning commission one was about the stairwell location the picture on the left side shows Exposed stairwell adjacent to single-family homes and with the tiered revision The stairwell was also relocated to area farther away And so people will not be able to stop at the top of the stairs and have visibility over the single-family homes in their backyards this slide shows again shows this increased setback from the first submittal showing the 18 foot setback to the west property line and with the revisions showing the vehicles on the first level on the picture there on ground level will still be at the 18 foot setback however the structure you see the second level structure and third level structure will be 36, and then with additional 28 feet, you get 264 feet for the top level for a setback. And this is another section showing that revision from the 18-foot setback to the increased setbacks from second and third and fourth levels. So additional elements to screen and buffer the project from residential, the applicant has proposed approximately 15 trees on the south side that will be intended to create vertical screening and will mature over time, as in the pictures have illustrated. Above shows at planting and five years after planting on the south side. This view would be looking east. So if you were in the backyards of a home on Lemon Street and if you were to look east, this is the rendering of what that should look like. This view looks towards those backyards of the single family homes on Lemon. This view is looking west down the access road to the parking structure. And this view shows a view looking north of the structure. So if you were at the townhomes to the south, this is a proposed rendering of what that would look like with mature trees after five years of planting. And then it's 66 feet setback to the homes here. The table provided here reflects The current parking situation at the hospital and where the existing parking is located, it's important to note that there's an existing five-level parking structure with 942 parking spaces. This proposal would shift the parking and that parking in that existing parking lot would transition over to this proposed lot on Foster Street freeing up space in the existing parking structure for more patients and visitors. So the parking supply, we have different locations of the parking. Zone D and two other areas are the areas where they will maintain valet after the proposed structure. And so there's currently 1,353 parking spaces provided on the property. our table here now keeping in line with the city's parking requirements one parking space for 200 square feet for medical the table reflects the proposed parking requirements for the specific plan at a 1585 parking spaces required with an existing parking supply of 1353 there's a deficit of parking after the proposed structure, there would be a surplus. And if valet parking is calculated into that total surplus parking, you get a total number of 379 surplus parking spaces for the entire Orange Coast Medical Center campus. As I previously mentioned, the original original specific plan has the future parking called out for as an expansion of the existing parking structure. What drives the need for this parking structure actually is In 2007, the city council approved the tall patient care pavilion that you've probably seen. And with that project, it was approved in phases. Phase two was an expansion and remodel of the emergency room. And phase three was parking to be constructed at an undetermined time. Well, that time is now. Orange Coast Memorial has, over the years, looked at expanding the existing structure to the east, towards Brookhurst Street, and found that there's many utilities underground that would be costly to move. The proximity to the newer patient care pavilion building would possibly require the parking structure or the patient care pavilion building to be modified because of the proximity to the parking structure. If there are to add to the existing parking structure, you have to keep in mind the existing parking structure was built I think in the early 90s, before a lot of building codes changed structurally, so there may be significant upgrades that they would have to do to the existing parking structure to come into co-compliance today. So those things present challenges that could be extremely cost-prohibited and just not workable for them, and so they proposed the parking structure on this foster lot here. And Memorial Care has had several outreach meetings in September of last year and March of earlier this year. Memorial Care did provide 500 letters and they included it with the Planning Commission staff report and presented that to the Planning Commission meeting. That was also included with the Planning Commission staff report. which I provided a link to you, in support of the structure. And again, through these public outreach and meetings, the applicant revised their plan. They went from 862 parking spaces for their structure, and with the tiered approach, being mindful of the homes to the west, they reduced it to 784 parking spaces. So as a part of the project, staff consulted with Ultrasystems Environmental to review the project. Ultrasystems and Michael Milroy, which is here tonight, prepared a mitigated negative deck. MMRP for the project that public review period was from March 3rd of this year to April 2nd. We received 16 comment letters So the MND identified areas of potential concern in several areas And were able to be found to reduce where the impacts were found to be reduced to less than significant with mitigation. And those were in the areas of biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, and tribal cultural resources. And again, the MMRP was prepared to ensure the implementation of measures were carried out through the project. Then additional areas of concern to staff were reviewed in the environmental analysis that were included and are as follows. for aesthetics we looked at lighting for aesthetics and later on with the design changes and the planning commission meeting last month i'll talk about it later the applicant has revised the rooftop lighting for the structure in aesthetics one of the components to review aesthetics was the impacts of shadows to the homes now the sun being in the south sky the shadows largely affects homes to the west and the applicant provided a shadow study over several times showing the shadow effects over the year. So a significant impact of shadows would be if it is casting over more than four hours during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during these times and at no point does it are the shadows more impactful than four hours at any time and as shown several times of the year in this equinox and solstice that usually after 10 a.m. there should be no shadows on the west side from the structure onto the properties on Lemon Street. And there is some shadow effects you see in these images, and a lot of that is the landscaping that will be provided as an additional buffer on the west side and on the south side as well. Again, so the top left being what the shadow effects would be at 7 a.m. and bottom right showing 10 a.m. in June that there would be no shadow effects from the structure onto the residential homes to the west after 10 a.m. So with respect to transportation, this being a parking structure project for an existing hospital, for existing employees, there will not be any increase in trips to the structure because it's not generating any new trips. Therefore, since it's not intended to increase hospital staffing or services or the intensity, The project vehicle miles travel document indicated that the project would screen out because it doesn't produce any new trips. And in order for a project to screen out, it would have to produce less than 110 trips to the project a day. If it produced more, then additional transportation analysis would be warranted. The applicant did provide a transportation impact analysis as a part of the project along with a parking management plan and a parking study to back up their support for the structure. So with respect to the transportation, we look at the ingress and egress of the structure. And as I previously mentioned, ingress will be off Foster Street from southbound vehicles traveling southbound on Foster Street from Talbert. There'll be a space for approximately 22 cars on the two lanes in the drive-up queue there with gate access. So about every eight to nine seconds, or I mean every 60 seconds, one minute, eight to nine vehicles could be going through. And that number comes from analysis that did not take into consideration any license plate readers or electronic devices that would speed up the process of the gate operations. The gate operations would operate a little bit differently than maybe a fast food drive-through or a structure that is open to the public because this structure is for employees only. So as employees return to work on a daily basis, they'll get familiar with the structure and the operations and it should be a little bit quicker than your average open to the public parking structure where people are unfamiliar with operations and the territory. so ultra systems provided the response to comments as a part of the environmental analysis this slide shows recommendations from the Planning Commission and based on public comments during the Planning Commission It was suggested that pedestrian safety elements be added to the gate and to the sidewalk for pedestrian safety and for vehicle safety. That the Talbert and Foster traffic signal be reviewed and the timing be reviewed after occupancy of the structure with public works to see if there's any issues. traffic signaling that could be changed to help traffic if there is an issue that that the hospital also provide post occupancy parking monitoring within 12 months to see how the effects of the structure and operations are affecting the neighborhood and if we need to add any additional measures that would alter operations. Also, a recommended condition from the Planning Commission is that the OCMC shall implement the approved parking management plan. And this, one of the elements to the parking management plan and circulation, as I forgot to mention, from the structure to prohibit unwanted vehicle traffic traveling from Phillips Street and Foster Street. Phillips Street connects Brookhurst Street on the south side Which does connect to Talbert? we proposed Some site modifications to the driveway entrance to the structure to where it would be prohibited from a car say Driving from Phillips Street snaking up Foster and trying to make a left turn northbound left turn into the structure where we proposed a The driveway modifications to vehicles would not be able to do so, so thus preventing more traffic coming in off Phillips and then on to Foster going through the townhome property into the structure. So keeping all the traffic on Talbert and Foster solely. That goes with the construction traffic. I'm sorry. One of the conditions was a construction plan for parking during construction and also a neighborhood notification plan of construction activities of when those will be taking place. And another condition for lighting and glare for the parking structure after occupancy. This slide highlights some of those operational elements that the Planning Commission asked for, such as traffic calming devices, just basically warning elements to warn pedestrians and warn vehicles exiting of that situation. And Public Works reviewed this, and it will be a condition of approval and as part of their plan check that this be a part of that. and respect to lighting so this is a photometric plan of the rooftop lighting deck the original proposal had over 20 pole lights at 14 and a half feet tall on the exterior edges of the structure and six in the middle as you see here so in this photometric plan here The little black marks are where the lights will be. So to see the six in the middle are pull lights in the middle. Now after the planning commission meeting last month, lighting was brought up and the applicant proposed two alternatives for lighting. And this one keeps six lights in the middle of the structure on the rooftop, but increases the height to 18 feet. And the lights on the exterior will be wall-mounted lights shown on the image on the bottom left. So they'll be mounted on the parapet, not be visible to anybody from the exterior of the structure. So the only lights that would be visible would be these poles that would be taller than 14 and a half. They would be 18 feet. But through the photometric plan proves that sufficient lighting would be able to be provided on the rooftop deck. And then you see it on the border on the west and east, west and south sides, the photometrics, meaning the amount of light that is being produced reads at zero on those sides. Again the second option that the applicant provided was six lights but they would be at 28 feet tall to provide that lighting that's needed for visibility on the top and a 28-foot light pole on top of a 34-foot well 34 would be very tall and probably the visibility of a 28-foot tall light pole would be visible from farther away from the exterior of the structure. So meaning down the street you would probably be able to see a 28-foot light pole a lot more than the proposed 18-foot light pole in the middle of the structure. as i mentioned parking during construction as a condition of approval Orange Cross Memorial has an agreement with Living Waters Church that's directly across the street that has 111 parking spaces that they could accommodate construction worker parking and for employee parking during this time because the foster lot will be demolished and so that would be taking away 231 parking spaces during this time. Orange Cross Memorial has already begun running a shuttle service from their office buildings to the north of us here at 1700 Brookhurst Street, and there are three office buildings with sufficient parking over there, with three shuttles running at different times of day starting at 5.30 a.m. to shuttle employees over to the hospital during the construction phase. So with that, staff recommends the City Council adopt a resolution approving mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program and introduce an ordinance and approve Code Amendment 2401 to amend the Orange Coast Medical Center specific plan to allow for the development of the freestanding parking structure in Planning Area 3 of the specific plan. And that concludes my report. The applicant is here and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Matt. I think what we should do is move into the public hearing. I'm seeing at least 20 speakers. Yeah, OK. So I'm going to open the public hearing.

First, public speaker Gary Jones.

Would you like the applicant to speak first or?

Yeah, okay, that would be great. The applicant could please approach the podium.

I'm trying to find a good slide for you to sit on.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kooning and members of the council. My name is Emily Randall and I have the privilege to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to speak before you tonight. about this critical project for the Fountain Valley community and those we serve. Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center is honored to provide valuable health services to Fountain Valley and the surrounding community. Our 30-year legacy of clinical excellence is built on a foundation of trust, expertise, and patient-centered care. We have always believed that a great hospital should also be a good neighbor. This means addressing the needs of the people we care for inside our medical facilities while respecting the needs of the surrounding community as well. Our success and continued demand for services have created a parking shortage that is stressful for those who are coming to seek care for family members or for family members visiting a loved one. The lack of available parking has also created issues for neighbors when visitors and staff are forced to find parking off campus. Despite offering free valet services, adding additional valet stations, and other parking management strategies, the demand for parking far exceeds available spaces. This is supported by the parking demand study, the city parking requirements, and the daily experience of patients and visitors circling and circling the campus in search of a place to park. When we began planning this parking structure, we started by reaching out to our neighbors. Over the past two years, we've worked collaboratively with the city and the community, and the project has evolved in response to that input. These efforts are reflected in the more than 500 letters of support submitted to the Planning Commission by residents and stakeholders who recognize the need for this project. Early in the process, we made the decision to dedicate the parking structure for staff and physicians with access restricted through a key card badge system. This approach was intentional for two reasons. First, it allows patients and visitors to park closer, to the medical offices and facilities, improving convenience during what can often be a stressful time. Second, by limiting the structure to employees, we can better manage operations, reduce constant in and out traffic, and ensure accountability since all users are identifiable through their access badge. It's also important to note that this project does not introduce any new services or programs for the OCMC hospital campus and therefore will not generate any new trips. The city's parking codes require 1,585 spaces for the existing uses. However, that calculation does not account for the operational realities of running a hospital 24-7. Case in point is our shift overlap. So the majority of our employees are nurses who work 12-hour shifts. The day shift comes in at 7 a.m. and goes to their unit, but they can't start their work until they've received a report from the outgoing shift. So the day shift comes in, the night shift gives a report, the handoff about all the patients that they've taken care of, And then the night shift leaves. So for at least 30 minutes, and sometimes longer, there is double the nurses in our parking lot. Just don't have enough space with what the city parking codes require to do that shift handoff. So definitely creates temporary peaks in our parking demand. To address these real conditions, the proposed structure includes approximately 300 spaces above the minimum code requirement. These spaces are not for growth and services, but to accommodate those existing operational needs. Finally, this project fulfills both the city's requirements and the commitment that we made when the patient care pavilion was approved back in 2007. Through two community open houses and countless meetings with the surrounding neighbors, we made significant modifications based on the feedback and ideas that were shared through these conversations and meetings. The modifications include, as I mentioned earlier, restricting the structure to staff, physician, and volunteer parking only with badge-controlled access, lowering the structure by placing one floor below grade to reduce the overall height, Removing a planned green belt walkway along the southern part of the property to reduce the opportunity for folks to set up any type of lounging. Adding a pedestrian bridge so that staff, physicians, and volunteers could safely cross Foster without interfering with vehicular traffic. That has been a long-standing problem that this is really the only way that we can fix. Expanding the entry to accommodate approximately 23 vehicles with two lanes for stacking to ensure traffic will not back up on Foster. We enhanced the landscaping along the west and southern borders to provide a stronger green buffer. We've improved the circulation and convenience for patients by having staff use one designated area for parking and patients and visitors using the existing parking structure and nearby close-up surface parking areas. And we're directing the exiting traffic to Talbert to improve the ingress and egress without affecting the neighborhood streets. In addition, continued dialogue with residents led to further refinements. We increased the setbacks along the west edge by terracing or stair-stepping that Matt discussed, the upper levels, to reduce perceived height, bulk, and shading impacts on the neighboring residences. We eliminated the parking facing the west edge at upper levels to improve privacy for adjacent residences. We expanded the landscape buffer along the west edge. We shifted the staircase along the northwest corner of the parking structure to ensure privacy for adjacent residences. And we added a choker curb and signage at the parking structure entrance on Foster to prohibit left turns into the parking structure. These refinements reflect our commitment to listening and responding to community input that collaborative approach continued during the Planning Commission's review of the project. On April 22nd, we presented the project to the Planning Commission, which voted unanimously to recommend approval. During its discussion, commissioners offered several recommendations related to rooftop, roof deck, lighting, signage, site access, and pedestrian safety. We appreciated that input, and in response, shared two alternative roof deck lighting plans, no idling signage concepts, a license plate reader system designed to facilitate efficient employee access into the structure, and enhanced pedestrian crossing features and signage at the Talbert Avenue exit. We are pleased to continue working with the city staff to evaluate these recommendations and incorporate appropriate refinements into the project. The last slide I was going to show was all of our staff who are, many of them, behind me and who are behind this project. They know it's what the city, oh, you're going to get me to where I need to be. Okay. That's the picture. Wait, stop. Don't touch it. Okay. Okay, there we are. Many of the staff that care for patients every day are pictured in this picture. Because regardless of facilities, parking structures, technology, it all comes down to people. And the people that take care of this community are pictured in this picture and are here with me tonight. This project is critical to meeting the parking needs of our existing medical campus, honoring the commitments we've made to the community, and ensuring we can continue providing outstanding health services to Fountain Valley. At the end of the day, our goal is simple, to provide exceptional care while also being good neighbors. The project helps us achieve both. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much. There's been a request to actually take a break, maybe about five minutes recess before public speaking, before I open the public hearing. So we'll just take a five minute recess, be back at 925. Thank you. Thank you.

¶¶ ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . . . so ¦ ¦ Thank you. © transcript Emily Beynon

We're gonna get started.

Everyone can take their seats.

As a reminder, we are on item 10. We'll actually do that. So we are now at the public hearing stage, correct? All right, we'll open the public hearing. Are there any requests to speak?

Just a couple, just a couple. First, Speaker Gary Jones. Okay, next speaker would be Tam Nguyen.

All right.

Welcome. Thank you. Hello, good evening, Mayor Kenean, Vice Mayor Harper, Council Members Bui, Grandis, Constantine. My name's Tam Nguyen, I'm a Fountain Valley resident, local business owner. Also wearing the hat of a host family here in Fountain Valley for Kiko. And very proud to be the incoming vice chair for this hospital at the Orange. I'm here to tonight respectfully ask for your approval of the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure project. This hospital is a non-profit institution that served this community for more than 30 years, providing exceptional health care while continually giving back to the residents of Fountain Valley and our surrounding communities. That commitment service is one of the reasons why I first joined this hospital's community benefit oversight committee as a volunteer before later serving on its board of directors. Mission of the hospital is simple. But profound, it ensures access to healthcare. That means the emergency care when seconds matter, means outpatient, inpatient services when families need support. It means preventive screenings, physical therapy, maternal health services, countless other programs that help people live healthier and happier lives. For me, this is not just professional, it's also very personal. My mother receives care here at Orange Coast Medical Center. My wife Christine worked there as a pharmacist. Our three children were all born there. Earlier this year, my uncle spent his final moments and last breath surrounded by very compassionate caregivers at this hospital. Like so many families in our community, my family's experienced both the joyful beginnings as well as difficult goodbyes that happen within this hospital. A 30 year legacy of clinical excellence built on trust, expertise, compassion, and patient centered care. Just the best healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses, ancillary staff, there's amazing. As a board member, I also have a responsibility to help ensure healthcare remains accessible, not only just for our Fountain Valley residents, but our patients and families who travel here every day from our neighboring communities that seek care here. I also want to recognize the person who presented earlier, Emily Randall. She's our recently appointed CEO of Orange Coast Medical Center. Emily is an exceptional leader, just like her predecessor Marcia Manker, who they genuinely care about our community, this community. For years, they've worked closely with city staff, neighbors, community members, and stakeholders to listen to concerns and address them thoughtfully and respectfully. Emily's shown up for this community. I've got to observe that for myself. Her commitment reflected in more than the 500 letters of support, submitted by residents, patients, seniors, physicians, nurses, and employees who understand the importance of this project. She listened, the hospital listens, and the project has evolved to what we got today. Tam, I'm sorry, your three minutes are up. All right, thank you. Well, thank you for your time, leadership, and your consideration and approval of this project. Thank you.

Prem Balani.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Killeen, Vice Mayor Harper, City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my support for the parking structure at Orange Coast Medical Center. Most of you know me, for those who don't, I am Linda Balani's husband, Prem Balani. I'm proud to live in Fountain Valley with my wife for over 30 years. We are also active in our community and serve as volunteers with various organizations in Fountain Valley and other communities. We live next to the hospital campus on Bird Court in the Mariposa community and adjacent to the proposed parking structure. It is true this city is a nice place to live, to have access to excellent health care, schools, and the city staff that responds to the needs of its residents. Like a good community partner, my neighbor Orange Coast Medical Center has been delivering on their promise to provide excellent health care. The hospital and its staff have taken care of me and my family over the years. I have seen firsthand. how the team of healthcare professionals led by compassion and deliver quality medical care. I recently went through a medical issue which required me and my wife to go to the facility three times a week along with numerous doctor appointments over a span of six months. My dad also spent his last few days at the hospital. While I live in walking distance of the hospital, I was able to walk to most of my appointments. Others in my group are visiting the hospital or at doctor's appointments are not so lucky and have to deal with finding parking multiple times a week. And if you have been in that position, you know how difficult it is. The hospital leadership team has been thoughtful and worked closely with the Fountain Valley residents and of the hospital to listen and continue to make adjustments to the parking structure designed to address their concerns around landscaping, easements, security, shadows, noise, and traffic. Today I ask you to approve the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure to approve access to health services for patients, caregivers, residents, and hospital staff. Thank you for your time.

Hubert Wong.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Keenan, Vice Mayor Harper, and members of the City Council. Thank you for this opportunity to share my support for the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure. My name is Dr. Hubert Wong. I'm the Chair of the Emergency Department at Orange Coast Medical Center. And I've had the privilege of serving the community, caring for this community for over 20 years. I want to particularly thank the city for their support for the expansion of our emergency department back in 2019, right in the nick of time before the COVID pandemic hit. It provided us critical capacity to really be able to care for this community. And in the, you know, just a few years since, I just find it absolutely remarkable that we now serve over 50,000 patients a year through our emergency department. Our emergency department, of course, is open, you know, 24-7. And in the emergency department, we are... seeing patients that sometimes end up being discharged, sometimes they're admitted. And regardless, they have concerned family, friends, caregivers that want to attend to them. And one of the biggest challenges that we hear constantly is how they're circling around the parking lot, trying to find parking, trying to get to their loved one, trying to get to the bedside. For us as providers, it's especially vital that we see family and friends and caregivers there because sometimes they provide absolutely critical information. And we see these people in some of their most vulnerable and stressful moments. And so this parking structure really will go a long way to serving the needs of the community, to allow patients to be able to park in the existing parking structure and be able to get to where they need to go quickly. And at the same time for staff, and for physicians and nurses really to be able to get where they need to go quickly. And so I do ask for your support for this parking structure. And I want to thank you for your time.

James Callahan.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Thank you for allowing me to voice my support for the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure proposal. My name is Jim Callahan. I'm proud to say that my family has called Fountain Valley its home for 32 years. As the sign says behind you, it is truly a nice place to live. One of the essential needs for any city is readily available health care. Orange Coast Medical Center and its team of doctors, nurses, and staff provide valuable health services to our city and the surrounding community. The hospital's mission is to improve the health and well-being of individuals, families, and the community. I know this to be true as my late wife Cindy was the former director for the breast center and imaging at the hospital. Cindy's biggest concern was that patients were treated with dignity and respect in their patient care experience. Cindy wanted every patient and visitor to have as positive an experience as possible when visiting the hospital in what often is a stressful time. When a patient is given an unfortunate diagnosis of cancer, as was in the case for my late wife, it is a frightening and stressful time for the patient as well as the patient's family members. Once diagnosed, these patients are cared for by a high quality team of oncologists that design and prescribe a treatment plan that is then administered at the hospital. These treatment plans require frequent patient visits to the hospital, accompanied by family or friends. Difficulty finding parking during these appointments create much unneeded stress on this already daunting cancer journey. I can attest to that. As this is, I experienced this stress first hand. It's imperative to find a solution to the parking shortage at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center. This proposal before you today addresses the needs of the hospital's patients, employees, and our community. Orange Coast Medical Center's legacy of clinical excellence is built on a foundation of trust, expertise, and patient-centric care. Part of this care should include safe and readily available parking. I implore the city council to approve the parking structure proposal and provide the much needed solution to this parking problem. Passing this proposal will make Fountain Valley a nicer place to live. Thank you.

Brian Genovese.

Welcome back. Good evening, thank you. I think last time I was up here it was actually light outside. I was up here before. So thank you Mayor Kenean, Vice Mayor Harper, and esteemed city council and city staff. My name is Brian Genovese, long time resident and business constituent of the city here, and also a huge volunteer here in the city. So you guys probably remember when FHP used to be here. Most of you guys have probably been around that long. So that was what originally was there, and Orange Coast Medical took it over and made it into what it is today, which is a trusted community partner that gives back. They're a nonprofit that does so much great work here in the city, and they did such a great job organizing to bring all of us out here tonight. And I feel very flattered I was asked to come out to speak tonight. But I think the main point is, it's one of those things where this is much needed, and our residents are getting older. And we're going to have a lot of new residents coming in too. My friend just had a baby over at Memorial Care. So we got a lot of that happening and the current situation is a health and safety issue. So the parking situation and all that, that needs to be corrected because we don't want people to have to worry about coming to access the facility in a time of crisis that they're in already. Matt Jenkins has done a lot of work on this project. We don't pay enough attention to our city staff sometimes and all the hard work they do. And they get paid good money to do these reports and bring the recommendations back to you guys to vote. So on behalf of them, I'd say right here, staff's requesting city council approve alternative number one to adopt resolution approving the mitigated negative declaration, blah, blah, blah. You guys know what I'm going to say. So I request you guys approve. this for Memorial Care and for the rest of the community. Thank you.

Charlene Freeman.

Welcome.

Thank you and good evening. I appreciate the opportunity to voice my support for the parking structure at Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center. My name is Charlene Freeman, and I'm the Director of Patient Relations. I've worked for our hospital for over 36 years. So in 1990, when I did start it, as he just mentioned, my tenure began at FHP Hospital, which was a for-profit hospital. And at that time, we had restricted access to only FHP members. And in 1996, when Memorial Care acquired FHP, we became that nonprofit hospital, opening the opportunity to care for our community. So my role is to help our patients navigate their care at the hospital, which is quite a journey. And my team makes sure the patients and their caregivers have a plan access to all the necessary additional health services to make a full recovery. And as is mentioned, many of our patients have treatments way beyond their hospitalization with the radiation or chemotherapy or physical therapy. And as a result, our patients and family members come to our hospital campus multiple times, and parking is always an issue. So despite offering the free valet parking, which we do, and implementing other parking management strategies, the demand for parking far exceeds the available spaces that we have. Over the years, we definitely have tried to be creative and attempted many parking solutions to include partnering with my sister, the pastor of Living Waters, Dean Aquaria, across the street from the hospital so that the additional employees could park there during the work week. But still again, we do not have enough parking spots for our patients and the employees. So our success and the high demand for healthcare services have created a parking shortage that can be stressful, as people have mentioned, for those who come to our campus for medical care and for their loved ones, as well as the staff that are compassionately caring for them. So please approve this project for Memorial Care to continue to provide the best care possible. And I respectfully thank you for your time and consideration.

Mitchell Surudome.

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of the parking structure. My name is Mitchell . I am an outpatient physical therapist for Orange Coast Medical Center. I have been proudly and happily employed at Orange Coast for the past 15 years. My wife and I, and soon to be two-year-old daughter, are also proud and happy residents of Fountain Valley. What brought us here was, of course, the proximity to work. but also the city spirit and pride, the safety, the schools, and the health care. Fallon Valley has certainly exceeded that of a nice place to live. Two months into my wife's pregnancy, she developed double vision. Under the care of Edinger Medical, it was discovered she had a brain tumor. It was a benign brain tumor. But this set forth a journey that was stressful, uncertain, challenging, and emotional. Medicine started on the day we called our doctor. It continued through the multitude of tests and appointments. Medicine was the day of surgery to remove this tumor. And I remember driving to the surgery center and being the longest car ride of my life. And I remember talking, but I don't remember a thing we talked about. Medicine was the check-in, the pre-op, the surgery, the waiting, the recovery, and mother returning home to her two-month-old daughter. Medicine was the follow-up appointments, the tests, and culminated with my wife being able to ring the bell after two rounds of radiation. It is hard to convince anyone that a parking structure is as important as this, that what my wife went through or a cardiac procedure, blood infusion, a checkup for the flu or the birth of a child. But medicine is the whole experience from beginning of the journey, the healing and the recovery. I'm here to support my patients in physical therapy who are commonly seen two to three times a week for multiple weeks to address their functional difficulties and discomfort. our patients with Parkinson's disease, vertigo, dizziness, balance deficits, post-surgical joint or spine rehabilitation, speech, memory, and cognitive decline, lymphedema from cancer recovery, many of which who have expressed disappointment with the parking or had to arrive much earlier than expected, much earlier than scheduled to find a parking space. I'm here to support the patients of Orange Coast and their family members and friends so that they can experience a positive experience as possible in what is stressful, uncertain, and challenging from the beginning of the journey, the healing, and the recovery. Thank you very much.

Jessica Kwan.

Hard to go after that one, but thank you. Mayor Cooney and City Council members, thank you for the opportunity to share my support for the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure. I'm here today as a very proud Fountain Valley resident. Vice President for Population Health at Memorial Care. From newborns to seniors and including my parents, my children, everyone in between, Orange Coast has been providing exceptional care, as you've heard, to our community for over 30 years. My family, my neighbors, my friends often share with me how fortunate we are to have this service, this excellent healthcare right in our community at Memorial Care. However, I know personally ease of access is a major issue. My parents, my father who's undergoing four years now of chemotherapy circle the lot every single time we go there. My mom with her cardiac issues circle the lot every time we go over there. This need for parking is no secret and when the city approved the specific plan it required construction for a parking structure at the Orange Coast campus. We're at a crossroads now with patients like my parents, like my children are now telling doctors and nurses they cannot deal with the stress of parking. And in some cases, we have seen them forego care or try to find other hospitals for timely care. which is further from their homes. This is the reason we're here today, and we need approval for this critical parking structure. This hospital is dedicated to the wellness of our community, always looking for ways to improve access to care. And as a resident, I ask you to not wait any longer, but to approve the parking structure so we can make sure we continue to provide that access. Thank you.

Peter Swanson.

Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. My name is Peter Swanson, and I'm here to tell you that Orange Coast Memorial Care is not a nice place to park. I'm here to offer my strong support for the proposed parking structure at the corner of Talbert and Foster. I think we've heard a lot of the stories about people driving around, but I think one of the other things that hasn't come up is all the different nooks and crannies people find a park across the streets and on residential streets become safety issues as people are crossing not at lights and whatnot. Anyhow, my wife and I have been residents of Fountain Valley for 35 years. We bought our starter home in Stardust, and we're still there. I don't think I can afford ever to sell it. Our family has been coming to Memorial Care and Edinger Medical Group for more than three decades. Everyone has mentioned our motto about Fountain Valley being a nice place to live, and I live today. My story today is because of the healthcare provided by the doctors and nurses at Memorial Care. Three years ago, my watch told me I was at AFib and I should go get attention quickly after a battery of tests. The doctors did confirm the irregular heartbeat, but also told me I needed to have open heart surgery in the next two weeks. That led to a 15 month I won't say ordeal, but a journey with two surgeries, four outpatient procedures, four hospital stays totaling 19 days, 15 nights, a dozen cardiology appointments, 36 cardiac rehab sessions. The nursery rhyme that says you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again is wrong because here I stand. My wife and I did come to the hospital. Over 93 times we calculated and we can say that parking is a problem. I do want to say that now that my health is strong, I've been blessed with a superpower by the hospital where I get to be a volunteer. I've been doing that for two years. I'm blessed to work in the pre and post-op department for cardiology. I get to team with all the surgeons, doctors, and nurses that did the work on me the last two to three years. Twice a week, I arrive at 6.30 in the morning to sit with patients and their loved ones to tell them that they can get through the open-heart surgery, and everyone goes into it with a little bit more optimism. The only complaint I ever get in the hospital as I escort two to three dozen patients in every shift I do is about the parking. It's never about the food, it's just the parking. So as everyone else has said today, let's approve this parking structure and fix this problem. Thank you.

Courtney Harris.

Welcome.

Thank you. It's going to be hard to follow my friend Peter. Hi, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. I'm here to support the hospital parking structure. My name is Courtney Harris. I'm a nurse and Director of Cardiovascular Services at Orange Coast Medical Center. I have the privilege of leading the Orange Coast Medical Center's Heart Institute. Both men and women may experience heart conditions throughout their lives. It's actually the leading cause of death in the United States. We at Orange Coast Medical Center are here to help the patients who suffer from heart disease with our team of cardiologists, surgeons, nursing staff, and our cardiac rehab team. After a cardiac event requiring surgery or invasive procedure, there are necessary therapies to support the patient to full recovery. which may mean cardiac rehab, pulmonary rehab, or physical therapy. Our patients receiving life-changing care of cardiac rehab will visit our facility up to 36 times for cardiac rehab exercise sessions. I've seen firsthand many patients who are coming into the facility struggling with physical limitations caused by their heart conditions, coming into cardiac rehab with an undue amount of stress and physical strain. These patients have circled the facility multiple times looking for a parking space. They finally sometimes release their car to a valet, which they don't like to do, even though it's free. They still don't like it. I don't blame them. Or they park in the boondocks and hastily walk to their appointments hoping to not be late. At that point, they're so frustrated that their blood pressure is through the roof. And sometimes they're even out of breath from rushing to make it to their appointment. This type of physical stress is far from ideal for this patient population, placing them at risk for worsening conditions. And these conditions that they're therefore working so hard to improve. Our patients deserve to be able to come to our hospital campus, receive the care that they require without any undue stress. I believe finding a parking place should not be on their list of worries. With that said, I have the privilege of meeting our neighbors living in the Orange living near Orange Coast during the 2025 and 26 open house events to give community members opportunities to see the plans on the parking structure and provide feedback. As you can see and have seen, Memorial Care has updated the design and plans to address the feedback received. I'm here today asking you to please approve the parking project for Memorial Care patients and for our staff. Thank you.

Katie Roulette.

Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, members of the City Council. Thank you for taking the time to meet with all of us this evening. My name is Katie Roulette, and I'm the Director of Social Services, EVS, and Emergency Management at Orange Coast Medical Center. And I've also had the privilege of being a patient there. I think they kind of put us heart people together, because I'm going to share an experience regarding the importance of parking while visiting members in the hospital. My son was born with a rare heart defect, which has required two open heart surgeries to date. As Courtney mentioned, it requires a lot of visits to the hospital. And unfortunately, hospitals in Orange County can't accommodate those appointments and what it entails. So we have to go up to LA. We enjoy our beautiful drive up to LA multiple times a year. But following that drive in LA traffic, we're faced with parking issues there as well. As silly as it sounds, finding a parking spot without having to circle for an extended period of time impacts my strength as a mom to go into those appointments with my son. If we find a spot right away, Alex and I always joke that everything else that we are going to experience in here is going to be a piece of cake. It's not. It's still very difficult, but when I find parking, I can go in there with a little bit more support for him. This parking structure will impact so many other family members, such as myself. With everything else they are about to experience, parking should not be a stressor. As I mentioned, I'm the director of social work at my hospital. My social workers are often at times the people, the first staff members who greet our families to deliver difficult news. Many times they are on the phone with family members who are trying to get into the hospital to say their final goodbyes. It saddens all of us at Orange Coast that the parking lot and parking can be a barrier to them being able to say these goodbyes in person. This parking structure will not only allow our patients the ability to park stress-free, it will allow our staff to park stress-free as well, where we can focus on what is important most, which is providing great care and exceptional care to our patients, most of the time, as you've heard, our loved ones. And my ask of you today is to approve the parking structure for Orange Coast Medical Center so we can continue to provide exceptional care for members of our community. Thank you.

Up next is Beth Hambleton on Zoom. Beth? Beth, whatever you're speaking into, we can't hear. I'm going to go to the next speaker. OK. Sure. While we get that sorted out, Lillian Yao.

Hello.

Welcome. Thank you, everybody, for such a long evening. My name is Lillian Yao. I am a longtime resident of Fountain Valley. My parents moved here when I was 10. I am an owner over in the Mariposa townhouse area. And I can assure you that I am in full agreement that Orange Coast Memorial needs parking. What I'm a little bit confused about is back in 2007 when the city approved the patient pavilion, the Orange Coast Memorial had made a commitment to use the property off of Berkerson La Alameda over behind Citibank for employee parking. If they're going to use that as employee parking during construction so that their employees can park there so that visitors can still park over at Orange Coast Memorial, what I'd really like to see is for them to do it now. If parking is such an issue today, why not start implementing that now? If that works and alleviates parking for all the visitors, then why not make that permanent? And then if it's a cost issue, well, how much is it going to cost to put up a parking structure? As a person that lives in the neighborhood, I am not so sure that I want to drive into my neighborhood with this massive building at the entrance of a residential neighborhood. The Hyundai facility over by Talbert and the 405 freeway, it's a massive structure. Granted, the parking structure's not going to be as big, but it's set back significantly. And so that's just one of my curiosities, That facility, the parking lot over there has never been utilized. I go to Citibank often and the parking lot's empty. If we moved all the employee parking there today, then visitors can park easily over at Orange Coast Memorial. So I would just throw that out there for your consideration. Let me see, what are my notes? That's right. I worked at Long Beach Memorial for two plus decades. I also worked at Long Beach VA Medical Center. Both of my parents had cancer. I had to go to USC Hospital, Hoag Hospital, City of Hope. UC San Diego, all the various large institutions in the area. And parking was at least a ten minute walk. Even if I was a visitor, I still had to walk at least ten minutes. As an employee, those two campuses were significant such that it was either a ten minute walk or a 15 minute walk, depending on where my station was and what time I got there. The commute from the existing property that is not being utilized may not be too much to ask. Okay, all right, thank you very much.

Megan Taylor.

Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. My name is Megan Taylor, and I live on Lemon Street, 18 feet from the proposed structure. My family has lived in this home for nearly 50 years. First, I want to thank Memorial Care, the staff, and the Planning Commission for listening. We do appreciate the revisions that have been made. However, there are still several concerns that remain unresolved. First and foremost is our privacy. The structure still allows views into established residential properties from multiple levels. This issue is not whether someone intends to look in our yard. The issue is that the design creates the opportunity for thousands of people each week 24 hours a day to do so. While the landscaping may screen the portions over time, the residents should not lose a reasonable expectation of privacy in their backyards and their home because a multi-level structure is built directly behind them. I understand that there's a need for ventilation, but I struggle that this idea is The idea is that ventilation and privacy are mutually exclusive. Every day we see louvered screens used around rooftop equipment that allows air flow while blocking views. We're simply asking that these designs be considered to give our families beside the structure some privacy. This would translate to fixed horizontal louvers pointing upward between levels two and three, and then extending the parapet wall on three and four. to go up at least five feet. Finally, Memorial Care is requesting an amendment to their precise plan 581 with the code amendment 24-1. That would increase the allowable building height. Because this city is being asked to modify this existing development standard, I'm respectfully asking that the council consider whether this additional height should be granted. immediately adjacent to established residential homes. As a council, not to approve the proposed increase in allowing this building height and the minuscule setback behind her home. Instead, require the project to comply with the height limits that are currently established in the specific plan. We respectfully ask the council to not approve the additional levels, continue to work with Memorial Care and the neighborhood to address the remaining concerns. Thank you.

We're going to try Beth again one more time here. Beth Hamilton. Beth, we still can't hear you.

I don't know what you're talking into, but we cannot hear you.

Perhaps we can move on to the next speaker. I can hear her. Can we chat with her?

She supports it. She has limited access. I can't hear her. Beth, I can barely hear you from whatever you're speaking into. It's not coming in over the speakers in the council chamber. But I did hear that you support it. Thank you. Sorry about that. She said thank you. Larry Crandall.

Welcome. Thank you.

the damn thing opened. Good evening, Mayor Cunine and Vice Mayor Harper, city council members. My name is Larry Crandall. I have lived in Mariposa condominiums for 34 years. My wife and I are 399 steps from the far front door to where the Orange Coast Medical Center parking structure is being proposed. One could assume that we would give us a NIMBY, not in my backyard. However, we hold the exact opposite opinion. When I served at the city of Fountain Valley as a council member and three-time mayor over the course of 15 years, this issue came before us. Since then, the population of Fountain Valley and the surrounding areas has aged, requiring more medical care. Since then, emergency room care and usage has increased. Since then, Orange Coast Medical Center is a destination facility for top-notch specialty doctors. Orange Coast Medical Center's banners hang with the message, Called to Care. We care. about the continued success of the entire Orange Coast Medical Center organization for the community at large and for the personal superb care we have received. We encourage you to vote in favor of their thoughtful and refined proposal to allow them to continue to do what they do best, support the health care needs of the ever increasing number of people they serve. Thank you.

Mike Kubas.

Welcome. Thank you.

Well, I'm going to take a considerably more selfish point of view. I live in the closest unit to the Foster entrance. And I'm directly affected by view, smell, and noise. View. Current parking lot is the ugliest parking lot in the world. Sorry, but... That a church across the street wouldn't pass your number nine proposal tonight. It's not a good view. And if I want to see the mountains, we're just not going to see them anyways. Smell, because it's guests using that parking lot, it's behind my fence that they smoke. And the hospital's tried real hard, but having, thank you, employees, I want to deal with that anymore. Noise is huge. I can't imagine the construction of the new parking lot being louder than it currently is there. Talbert with the gas trucks, with the kids racing their little cars with the turbochargers. Constant noise on the road. It's just so loud. The guests... arguing over grandma's dishes and she hasn't even died yet. It's unbelievable the amount of noise. Can't wait to see it gone. early morning landscaping because they can't get landscapers in there when people are already parked. So they have to landscape before the parking starts. They won't have to do that anymore because now there won't be any cars blocking the trees. The landscapers can service that lot during the middle of the day because now they're waking us up. The people stealing the catalytic converters in the middle of the night. those things will all be gone. So, yeah, I'm being very selfish, very selfishly put in that parking lot. A bigger thing, the jaywalkers. I've almost hit five of them. One of your doctors may be here tonight, had words with me. They walk across at a speed that, and when we're driving, they sit on our A pillar. We don't see them. My son twice yelled at me, stop, you're about to hit them. We don't see them. If you're at the right spot, they just stay in your A-pillar. Thank you for the overhead pathway. And please let the police department enforce jaywalkers after it's done because we hate almost hitting them. We don't try to. It just happens. Maybe my wife, but I don't know. Currently, the guests, the drug salespeople, they're constantly parking in our parking lot at the community. We see it constantly.

Mike, I'm sorry, your time is up.

Thanks.

Dr. Stanley Arnold.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Kenean, Vice Mayor Harper, and members of City Council. My name is Dr. Stan Arnold. I'm a practicing internist and president of Edenshire Medical Group, a private physician-owned medical group serving in the community since 1961. We've been partnered in delivering value-based care with the memorial system and Orange Coast Memorial for over 25 years. And in that time, I've seen the hospital transform from a sleepy little community hospital to the premier state-of-the-art institution it is today. And to say that the original parking structure is antiquated and in need of transformation with more parking is an understatement. And so I ask for your permission to proceed with the new structure. Thank you very much.

Dr. Arnold. Dr. Arnold. Actually, I have a question for you, Dr. Arnold. Sure. So Dr. Arnold was my doctor for years at Edinger Medical Group, and I understand that parking lot really well, and I was one of them. Those jaywalkers all the time. But what I don't understand, especially for Edinger Medical Group, where are your patients going to park now? Because if that's for doctors only, where will your patients park for Edinger?

When the new structure's completed? Yeah. They'll park in the existing structure.

So that's much further from where we park now.

No, it's closer right now. The patients park in the structure when they can find a spot. Most of the staff is parking in the, and the physicians, We're privileged and we get spots in the structure. But the patients park in the structure or they're parking by valet. But the staff park in the foster lot where the current proposal is for the new parking structure.

Okay, I still see the old structure to your office to me is much further than just walking across and entering the back door of the- No.

Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. You bet. Next speaker is Teresa Stern.

Welcome. Thank you.

Mayor Kineen, Vice Mayor Harper, members of the City Council, thank you for allowing me to be here today in support of the parking structure at Orange Coast Medical Center. My name is Teresa Stern, and I have the privilege of overseeing Orange Coast Medical Center's ancillary services, which includes supportive, diagnostic, and therapeutic services for our patients and their loved ones. One of the areas I oversee is our Parkinson's and movement disorders program. Parkinson's disease is the fastest growing neurologic disease worldwide. And Orange Coast Medical Center proudly offers one of the most robust Parkinson's programs in all of Orange County. When a patient is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, they will develop neuromuscular movement disorders that worsen over time. Everyday activities such as walking, eating, and speaking become extremely difficult. my team supports these patients with a menu of services throughout this difficult journey. From speech therapy, physical therapy, to complementary exercise classes, patient support groups, and even caregiver support groups. As you can imagine, receiving and benefiting from these support services requires many visits to our hospital campuses. Monthly, weekly, or even daily, depending on the stage of disease, This need can go on for many, many years. This means people suffering from Parkinson's disease and their caregivers are driving to the hospital for much needed care and are dealing with the stress of finding parking, stress that can intensify their already difficult symptoms as they fear potentially being late or even worse, missing. these complementary services, services they very much need. As we live longer, it is a fact that individuals will develop a variety of diseases that require an array of services to support them on their difficult journey. And I am here today respectfully asking you to make it easier for them to receive the care they need. Please vote to approve this parking project for memorial care so that we can continue to best care for our patients and their caregivers. Thank you.

Rosa Evans.

Risa.

Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Coonan, Vice Mayor Harper, and council members. My name is Risa Evans, and I am chair for the Memorial Care Health System Board, and I'm also on the Orange County Hospital Board, and I'm a patient at Orange Coast also. Memorial Care and my work through the board has given me the opportunity to collaborate with physicians, nurses, and leaders to improve timely access to healthcare services through our hospitals and all of our clinics. Together, we understand that it's our employees who are the foundation of Memorial Care's culture of caring for our patients and visitors that come through our doors every day. But it's becoming harder and harder at our Orange Coast Hospital for our employees to find a place to leave their vehicles so that they can come in and provide that exceptional care. Currently, our employees at Orange Coast Park in a multiple location facility throughout the campus and staff consider themselves lucky if they can find a spot in one of those multiple locations. They start their day on the front end frustrated before they've even started the long work day ahead of them as incredible health workers. The parking structure is something the employees need and want. It's a regular topic of conversation and the anticipation is very high that you will approve our project and we can get construction started. We are so appreciative to Emily Randall for her time that she spent to meet with residents, neighbors, staff and community leaders to listen and find parking solution that would strike the right balance for hopefully everyone. And with over 500 letters of support from Fountain Valley residents, nurses, physicians, employees, community leaders and patients, She's handled all of that with grace. This solution will now streamline parking on campus to just one employee parking structure at the corner of Talbert and Foster and a bridge to take the traffic off of Foster where people are jaywalking and we're having dangerous situations. The parking structure will alleviate a lot of daily stress for our compassionate health care teams so that they can focus on patient care instead. Help us in this endeavor, please, and support the parking lot center development for Memorial Care.

I have no further requests to speak.

Okay, thanks. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and open up to comments from council. Councilwoman Constantine.

Sure. Great presentation. Just so I know, I understand, you know, that this will be just for employees and there'll be a key card badge system for the employees, the volunteers and the physicians. Somebody was just off earlier asking about security. Do we have any information on that? Any kind of patrolling or anything?

I'll answer that question for you. Yes, we have a security that will be on patrol in that area. So regular patrol to make sure that everything stays in order as it should. And we'll also have the badge system to be able to get from area to area. It was suggested at the planning commission that the elevators would run with badge access as well to prevent interlopers from coming into the And so that is our plan as well. And we also have the officers that stand outside of the emergency entrance just across Foster. So they have a great view of the overall area as well.

Great. One last question. Sure. When will construction start?

Well, we'll have to take it once we receive approval from the city council. We would take it forward to our board of directors at both Orange Coast and at Memorial Health Services. So there's a process involved in that. Then it would go out to bid or for final designs and bid. Probably construction wouldn't start until spring of next year.

Great. I'm very excited. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Any other council comments?

Council Member Lee. Thank you, Mayor.

So I have a question. My understanding, you also own another piece of property which is south of the hospital. Do you have any plans of that business plaza or?

You see the plaza, Mariposa Plaza Shopping Center. Yes, we actually are using it to full extent to move. We've moved a number of offices there. of the hospital to make room for patient care and so anything that any any service or activity that doesn't require that is not required to be inside the acute care hospital we have moved some of those services there so we are using it as it currently exists there there's the strip mall and two pretty sturdy buildings that we plan to use just as we're using them now.

Okay. Well, Ms. Randall, first of all, thank you for your outstanding community outreach. And congratulations on your appointment as chief executive of the hospital. Thank you. I also want to thank the resident and everyone who came out to speak on this matter for lending their voice today. I also would like to share my two experience my family has had with this institution. So two decades ago, my son received exceptional care with this wall. And last year, the same standard of excellence shone once again. For that, I extend my gratitude to the hospital and to the remarkable team of dedicated professionals. Thank you for caring for my family and across the years and for caring for this whole community. Thank you.

Councilor McGrathis? Yeah, so a couple questions. First off, I also have experience here. My son was born, one of my two boys was born on that property, but He's 36, so it was FHP and not Orange Coast, so I'm old. But I think one of the biggest issues, actually before I get to that, has that always been a parking lot, like forever, back even FHP days? Or what was that before? Does anybody know?

The girls club.

The boys and girls- A girls club on that property, okay.

Brian's even older than me. Okay, thanks Brian. I was just curious about that because obviously those homes, I was curious what was there before the parking lot. What were they behind? Oh, the drive-in movie theater, that's right. I've been there many times. Okay, that's right, now it's all coming back. So I think one of the biggest issues, I talked to my buddy Herb Folland, who lives back there. And I think the biggest issue is people parking in the neighborhood. So what are we going to do to discourage patients? I think doctors will have enough room now, but how do we discourage patients from parking in the neighborhood?

think you'll you'll obviously will have adequate parking for employees and for physicians but that means that there will be areas in the existing parking structure and all of the surface lots around the eddinger medical building as well as the hw the health and wellness pavilion there's a lot of surface parking that will be freed up because there won't be employees and physicians parking in that area. So that'll give us more parking for patients. So I really don't believe that there will be the need for our patients and visitors to overflow onto the streets. When I was out doing a lot of community outreach, that was a real concern of the neighbors across Talbert as well. Chestnut no Cashew and that there was they they wanted to be assured that there would not be parking with the Construction while the construction was going on that there wouldn't be construction Trucks there and and we took care of that with our agreement with the church the other thing is the is anybody parking in the area and they wondered if If we would be supportive, if the hospital would be supportive of signage on those streets with the city, with the city's help to prohibit patient parking on there, just that it was signed somehow. So that was some feedback that we received. Anything that we can do to support not having folks park in the nearby neighborhoods, we would be willing to support.

Okay, I'm glad to hear that. I think that's something that I don't think we can prohibit parking there because it's a public street, but maybe a no patient parking or something I think could be helpful. The other issue brought up was truck deliveries going through the neighborhoods. What could we do to prevent delivery trucks from continuing through?

Yeah. The truck deliveries should come off of Brookhurst into the dock area. That's the most direct route. So going through Phillips and Foster is not really a good route for any trucks, but I'm sure that there's some that get waylaid and go through that neighborhood. So we can work with our vendors to basically emphasize the direct route for the drop-off of deliveries and so forth.

Well, I'm hoping you're giving me a commitment now that you guys will reach out to your vendors, because many of them may not even realize that's a big issue for the neighbors. Absolutely, yeah. You have our commitment. Okay. And then is there any way for when they exit onto Talbert, and I'm glad they're exiting onto Talbert, but sometimes Talbert backs up. We don't want them to cut through Foster and then go through the neighborhood too. I know that you're blocking them from going the other way in the left into the parking lot. Is there any way that, I don't know, I guess they're all going to be doctors, so it's not like it's patients coming out of that parking lot. Right. How do we motivate them to make sure they don't cut through the neighborhood?

Well, I think those instructions will be very clear when we establish the parking lot. All of the rules of the road for the parking structure will be part of policy for us. And so it will mostly be employees. There will be some doctors and volunteers. But all of those are under our supervision. And if they don't follow the rules, then we take action to make sure they get in line.

Okay, well, that's good. This is being recorded, and people are going to play this back if you don't. So that's good. We'll lower the boom. There you go. I was going to ask you the same question I asked Dr. Arnold, because I didn't quite get the answer I was hoping for. But you did say that I didn't realize doctors were parking in those lots right next to the building as well.

Yeah, we have a lot of docs that – that park on the first floor of the existing parking structure, but others that park in those surface lots around the buildings. So that should dissipate because it will be really plenty of parking for staff and for physicians. So those surface parking lots should be available for patients.

Okay. And you're going to give that same commitment if you see doctors parking there anyway that you'll... Oh, absolutely.

They have the badges as well as the parking permits. So we will find them.

All right. You know, I agree that a parking structure is important, but I think it's important to address the residents' needs as well. So you're going to make... And I know I've worked with you for a short while now, but I believe that when you say that, that you will follow through. So I appreciate it. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. I have a request for Matt Jenkins. Come on back. So if I read the staff report correctly, after we build the parking structure, there will be a surplus of 318 or 379 parking spots versus the NEAT. So I certainly, while I recognize that there's a need for additional parking at the Memorial Care, I'm struggling with the need for a five-story parking structure. It seems like the first three levels would meet the needs that are sort of identified in the staff report. So I just, you know, I guess I, and given the surrounding neighborhoods, five stories, that's a big parking structure. If we can satisfy the need with three stories, I don't see why we need to go to five.

So with respect to the numbers, historically, the city had fairly restrictive parking requirements. And when the project was first, well, years ago, when Orange Coast Memorial first looked at it, they use the city's parking ratios again which were very restrictive and so that's how they planned their structure and coming up with the code calculated required parking under the old provisions we came to 2016 parking spaces required per the calculated code for the hospital campus the entire campus The city has since revised its parking standards to kind of be more in line with industry standards and from engineering studies based on real-world applications of hospitals and what their parking generates. And those studies suggested a more conservative parking ratio of, say, five parking spaces per thousand, which is what the city recently updated its parking ratios to. Thus, at the beginning of this project, Orange Coast Memorial still was using the old parking ratios, which required more parking spaces, and so when they were planning their parking structure, they under the assumption using the old ratios that the whole campus required 2,000 parking spaces so they designed this parking structure then being 860 parking spaces then since through public outreach they've revised it to increase the step backs to the west and decreasing the total amount of spaces to the 784 now and but by doing that decreasing the size of the structure using the old code requirements, which are not the current requirements of the city, but the old requirements located in the specific plan of one space per 143 square feet. By doing that, under the old parking requirement with the proposed structure, the project only gained 26 parking spaces. because the parking requirement was so high of 2,000 under the old requirements. So they revised their parking structure to reduce the amount of spaces that they're going to be building. revise the parking ratios to be online with the city, which require less parking than what we previously required in the past. So the number looks like the project is building more parking than what is needed. However, these numbers are based on calculations I think the hospital and their staff that has been there for years understand the daily operations of the parking challenges there. And with the overlap of employees with the nursing situation, they provided the structure to accommodate their needs.

Yeah, I understand that. But I guess there's going to be, with just building a three-level structure, we'll add 267 parking spaces compared to what they have now. And I've heard like, oh, well, we need it for the shifting. I guess I haven't seen any numbers that really justify the additional parking that they're requesting. So that's where I'm having an issue.

Vice Mayor Harper, I think one thing that Council Member Bowie brought up is that shopping center that's next to the hospital that's currently being used for offices. I don't think that's going to be used for offices forever. And I think eventually that's going to need additional parking. So there's just no way you buy a shopping center like that for office space. So I think there's some future planning whether they can talk about that or not now. I would expect that. Do you know what I'm saying?

No, I don't. Something that could happen maybe in the future someday.

Well, you're planning a parking structure now. You have to plan for the future as well. There's a shopping center right next to the hospital.

What's in the staff report, what I've heard, is that they've got 369 extra parking spaces. Why build a five-story structure if you only need three spaces? It's much less impact on the neighborhood. And, you know, that's what I, you know, that's where I am with it right now.

Yeah, Ms. Randall, I think she wants to speak on that.

Just want to remind the council that the parking structure is, you know, we went one floor below grade. to decrease the height. There are only three stories and rooftop parking. It's not the size of a five-story parking structure like the one at the south side of the campus. It's really a three-story structure with an extra floor underneath and the rooftop parking. We've tried to optimize as much parking as we can. We've obviously taken some out by stair-stepping that parking structure back.

But what do you need all the extra parking for? I mean, if there's only, you've only, in the staff report, you haven't shown me a need for that many spaces. You've told me, well, we need more parking with the shift, but there's no parking demand study or anything like that that's getting to that number. It's based on the old code.

The shift overlap is real. It's an operational every day. Every 12 hours there is an overlap of staff, the nurses, from the day shift to the night shift. They have to give reports. So it's only for a short period of time, about 30 to 45 minutes, but it's real and it's there. And if we are stingy with the parking and go down to just exactly what the regulations say, we won't have enough parking and we'll have overflow into the neighborhoods, which is what we want to avoid. We need a little bit of padding so that that shift exchange can take place and that the overflow into the neighborhoods does not occur. So that's my sense that we've paired it down as much as we can. We've gone underground and we've done the rooftop parking so as to not be such a large structure for the neighborhood.

Yeah. I joined the Planning Commission in the year 2014 and one of the first projects that we approved was demolishing the office building right there and turning it into a parking lot because Memorial Care said they needed that for parking, and it's been empty since then. So, you know, while I appreciate the need for extra parking, I think I would need more than we have to approve the project. And, you know, probably it sounds like I may be one of five, but that's where I am. Thank you.

If you don't want to recognize the applicant. I'm Shane Green with LLG Engineers. We worked on the parking study. Just to give a little bit of context, you have almost roughly 2,000 spaces is what's being recommended. And out of the 2,000, we have a surplus from a code standpoint of about 300, which is about 15%. So normally when I'm talking park, I'm talking shopping centers, and normally you want a contingency of about 15%. Once you get to about 15% or beyond 15%, it starts to feel full. So you're searching, you're starting to look. So we're building into this that contingency and that convenience factor. For that so it's covering that plus the shift that they're talking about So it sounds like a big number that a whole level or two, but it's really not it's it's providing enough surplus for a Good experience and that's what we're trying to accomplish here Councilwoman Constantine sure.

I just want to say my mother was there my mom's still alive and everything but there's so many Medical office buildings there. It's not just hospital. There's constant in and out. It's a tremendously busy place, Vice Mayor Harper. And it's true about the shopping center, the adjacent shop, the former shopping center. I mean, we don't know what is going to be with that. I would imagine that in the future there will be a need for parking and by the physicians and staff that use that former shopping center right now. And so it just makes sense that they would be parking in the parking structure. So truly for me, it's a non-issue. Thank you.

So I'd like to provide many reasons why I support this project. So first, we talked about the increased parking capacity, which is clearly important to Orange Coast Memorial. I think that goes without saying at this point. We talked about improving the traffic flows, and I think the design does that in a thoughtful way from Talbert to Foster, Phillips. So I think that's an improvement overall in that area. Third, the pedestrian bridge, as we heard, will increase safety by providing a dedicated elevated parkway. And so hopefully we'll deter the unpermitted pedestrians, I think they were called. Fourth, I truly believe the applicant has gone well above and beyond in all aspects of the design and particularly in the community outreach. Number five, the planning commission has approved this unanimously. Six, the pedestrian bridge itself, I think, is beautifully designed. I mean, there's rolled steel tubing, which is very expensive. I mean, these are some features that I think are really going to enhance that project. There's over 500 letters of support which have been provided. Of the 20 speakers tonight, 17 were in favor of this project. And then lastly, I also have a story to tell from our time there. My wife was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2017. And that triggered at least 50 trips over the next year. And so we spent a lot of time with these exact same issues of trying to find parking. And I remember the stress of, okay, this is what's coming up. I can't find a spot. And so I think this facility is more than just another kind of place to build a parking structure. It has a deeper meaning for me personally as well. And I think for those reasons I support the project. Any other questions from council?

Yeah, I'm sorry, one other. So the resident who backs it brought up the, what do you call those, movers? What can be done to help the people who live back there to, whether you put up screens or something, to block their view? Because they're right, they're back there and I wouldn't be happy if somebody was looking into my backyard.

I'll start and Ted can jump in if I don't cover everything there are screens planned to be on the Talbert side on the north side of the parking structure as to to impact the the look of it in the neighborhood etc and so we have not screened on the south side and the west side as heavily because we felt like that the green buffer with all of the trees would help with that screening. What we need to be careful about is that if we take screening, we have to make sure that the ventilation remains natural through the center. There's no mechanical ventilation in that center. because we didn't want to add that noise to the area. So we want natural ventilation to go through that parking structure. So we have to make sure that if we add screens on the south or the west side, that we take some from the north side. Am I saying that correctly?

Well, the north side is Talbert, right? Right. So nobody's yard is being looked into on Talbert? Right.

It's the design of the building that we wanted it to be softened a bit with that screening. So that's a purpose of the screening on the north side. But we certainly can consider it. We just need to make sure that the natural ventilation is balanced and that we don't put extra screening in one place that is already covered up by trees or whatnot. So that's something that we can continue to look at.

Yeah, but those trees will be five years. So even if we did something temporary, you know, I just need a commitment. You guys are going to at least look into that portion for them. We can certainly look into it more. Okay. And if it's feasible, you'll do it? If it's feasible, we'll do it. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Thank you. Councilman Bowie?

I spoke with Ted earlier this week on conditions of approval for the ventilation of the structure, and this will come back to you for a second reading should you approve it tonight, but we will bring back... Also, if you want to amend any conditions or add anything, but again, I was working with Ted on option four, adding the screening on either the west or south sides with language that would not necessarily transfer all the screening or have it fully screened, but so that we could verify that the structure will be able to be naturally ventilated.

That must be a different Ted, right? I'm like, I don't remember talking to you.

Not this Ted. This Ted. But we'll bring back at the next meeting some proposed language for a condition that would require screening subject to certain conditions.

I'm sure the hospital wants to be a good neighbor, so anything they can do, I'm sure they will. Okay, I feel better.

I just have quick questions. If the hospital would explore the possibility in the future to perhaps answer some Council Member Harper's concern and my colleague here, Council Member Grandis, that people, you know, how can we alleviate people parking in the neighborhood? Perhaps once you have identified that, well, you know what, we don't need all the space, perhaps explore the you know, possibly open up for patients that really need parking, I don't know, you know, perhaps open a portion of it to, I don't know, that's, I'm going to leave that up to you. Yeah, to utilize the, for those who are there for, like, critical cares or whatnot that have to come back repeatedly, months after month, like some of the patients, and A colleague that have cancer patients, perhaps give them a batch for that, because they might go three or four months treatment. Perhaps open that up for them so you don't have the overflow that goes into the neighborhood. Just a thought. Thank you.

That's a good idea. Any other council comments? That's a really good idea.

Okay.

All right, I'll entertain a motion on this item. I'll second. Councilman Bui. I'll second. Okay.

Mr. Mayor, can I read the title?

Yes, please. Thank you.

This is an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Fountain Valley approving a mitigated negative declaration and adopting a mitigation monitoring and reporting program and approving code amendment number 2401 to amend the Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center specific plan to include modifications to the development standards that would permit a freestanding parking structure in planning area three of the Orange Coast Medical Center specific plan.

I just want to verify, any more discussion before we vote? No. Okay, please vote.

We got this done before 11.

Item number ten passes for one.

Thanks everyone. Okay, we're going to move on to administrative items, item 11. Maybe we'll just take, let's give like a couple minutes recess and appreciate everyone coming out tonight.

Thank you. ¦ ¦ so so Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ ¶. ¶¶ Thank you. ¦ ¦

Okay, we'll move into administrative items. Item 11, award a contract to AAA Oil Inc. Does business as California Fuels and Lubricants Inc. for unleaded and renewable diesel bulk fuel services presentation by Cassandra Burkhart. Welcome. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. The item I'm presenting tonight is a proposed contract with AAA Oil for bulk fuel services. So the city purchases bulk gasoline and diesel fuel for all our emergency vehicles. This fuel is delivered to above ground tanks located at fire stations number one and two, fueling our fire apparatuses and ambulances. Our current contract with SC Fuels expires on June 30th, 2026. Historically, the city has piggybacked off of other municipal agreements to secure short term pricing. While this satisfied the short term, staff decided to initiate a comprehensive IFB to transition to a multi-year agreement. So on March 10th, 2026, the city issued a comprehensive bid for unleaded and renewable diesel bulk fuel services. On April 1st, one formal bid proposal was received from AAA Oil Inc. To ensure a competitive and fair bid process, staff conducted a post solicitation survey of all non-responding firms. And a total of 14 non-responding vendors cited one of the three or all the three primary barriers to bidding. First, the volume of the bulk fuel did not meet logistical capacity for smaller regional suppliers. Secondly, vendors cannot meet the city's performance bond requirements. Third, prospective bidders indicated they cannot meet the specific delivery timelines or the renewable fuel sourcing requirements of the city. So here we have the contract breakdown. So with this contract, fuel shall be ordered and delivered on an as needed basis with no minimum delivery volume requirements. Pricing is based on 10 AM LA OPUS daily rack average plus a vendor fixed markup. The markup includes all delivery costs with no additional surcharges. A quick overview of the chart here, on the first column we have the rack average per gallon for 2025. Next is the vendor markup on the next column, and then after that is standard taxes and fees. And second to last is the estimated total consumption of fuel that the city requires for diesel and gasoline. Given that this market is highly volatile, we included a 10% contingency for margin, which led to our total projected annual cost equaling around $108,000 for this contract. So next for the fiscal review, the adopted budget for fiscal year 26-27 includes sufficient funding for the contract. There is currently $445,000 allocated for gasoline and diesel within the fleet management fund. The total estimated cost for the entire initial three year term is $324,000. While this contract covers bulk fuel deliveries, the remaining budget is reserved for fuel card expenses for vehicles fueling at commercial stations. Fuel card expenses cost approximately $337,000 a year. So staff recommends that the city council approve alternative number one, which is to award a contract to AAA Oil Inc. for unleaded and renewable diesel bulk fuel services. And I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for your presentation. Open up to council comments or questions. I do.

I had a real concern with this that I talked to staff about before. That's only one bidder on this. How many, I mean, every city does this, or many cities do this, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, it doesn't seem like it's that unique what we're asking for. It's AAA Oil who's winning this thing. I mean, do they supply every city around? Or why are our restrictions too great that we're not getting other bidders?

Well, like I said, the three barriers were the volume that we're asking for.

Too high, too low?

It was too high for smaller local retail chains or gas chains, and then plus the performance bond. We were asking for a performance bond. I know some cities, they don't require that, but we were asking for that.

Well, shouldn't we be asking for that? Is that too restrictive? I mean, why are we only getting one bid?

Well, our purchasing officers, she just said that that was the three main barriers, was the volume, the logistics of it. Because we asked for a 48 hour business day range of time for the fuel to be delivered to us. And other vendors weren't able to give that to us, and that's what we're asking for, is 48 hours to receive the fuel. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

NO, THAT'S GOOD.

So on the staff report, we cited the reasons. We can't exactly ask staff, we can't answer their business reasons why they don't want to bid. We had 14 interested companies, so that's what we did. We looked, same thing, we have a concern, one bid, does that seem reasonable? Then we found out that that seemed reasonable. Then we looked at the pricing, and the pricing is competitive versus where we were at before. And so as a result of those two evaluations, if you look at the pricing, The gasoline drops 27%, because really the gas price stays the same. The taxes stay the same. We're talking about the delivery charges, essentially. And so that, what we were paying before, is 27% higher. And then for the gas, then 41% higher.

And you told me that, that we're saving money. And I'm glad that we're saving money. And it sounds like something just sounds off. To me, I just can't get my arms around one better.

We can look a little bit more into it, but at this point in time, yeah, it's always nice to get the extra bids.

And then a dumb question. Why do we use retail fuel stations when we have this available? Is it cheaper at the retail fuel? It's not cheaper.

It's the volume. My understanding is the volume. I haven't been here when it first got set up. But it's the volume. But also to force every vehicle to go back to one of the fire stations to fuel up is also challenging, too. They weren't designed as a fuel station. You're going into the fire stations and having to fill them up regularly.

But I assume all public works trucks and such fill up this way, don't they? Or do they use them retail?

They use them retail because they're all over the city. Now, the question did come up from Vice Mayor Harper before when we were looking at the fire station about adding a larger above ground fire or fuel tank, and we will look at that too.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

I want to ask a follow-up question to my colleague here. You mentioned that you require them to have a performance bond. Are they doing the same thing, and are they asking for a bond as well, or are we the only one?

I wouldn't be able to answer that. I think our procurement officer should be able to answer that. I can find out for you.

Because typically when you ask additional bonds or insurance, it costs more for business owners. That cost usually transitions to whoever needs the service. In the past, did we have any historical data that we went to a problem, that's why we asked?

Well, we never went out to bid before for fuel. This is the first time, so it was kind of a new endeavor for us. But our legal team said it would be best to have a performance bond too, so. recommendation there.

Sure. It's not an important today decision, but in the future to look at other cities, how are they doing it? The county has to buy fuel as well. Other cities have to buy fuel as well. Are they asking for a bond? Just as a curious.

Okay. I can further look into that.

Thank you.

Okay. I'll call for a motion on the item.

I make a motion to approve item number 11.

I'll second.

Just waiting for Councilmember Constantine.

Oh, it didn't come up. I don't have a voting screen, sorry. It has item 11 and public speakers on the right. No, there's no voting for me. Well, I'm a yes if you want to know.