City Council - Regular Meeting

like that thing. Good evening. Welcome to the city council meeting for March 10th. Madame Clerk, will you please call roll? Council member Dillard, here. Council member Lotheian, here. Council member Suzuki here, Vice Mayor Kazarez, Mayor Rapastath here. We begin every meeting with a invocation and flag salute and tonight um Council Member Lotheian will take us through those. Thank you, Council Member Loian.

Right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh for tonight's invocation, um I want to salute the United States military. Um we've all had like a front row seat to our military this last these last excursions that we've had, and it's been pretty astonishing. Uh the I think the whole world is amazed at our ferocious power, skill, technology and precision. Uh and uh I just want to remind us that the uh United States has the number one Nate in the world, the number one navy in the world, number one air force in the world, number one army in the world, number one marines in the world, and we dominate in space. So I'm very proud of that. And I decided to give uh share a quote from Sunsu, Art of War. Move not unless you see an advantage. Use not your troops unless there is something to be gained. Fight not unless the position is critical. So please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Ready? Pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Um, next we have a report from close session. The reportable action tonight is that the council gave direction to its negotiators to negotiate with the fire group. See that? Um, city manager comments. I have none.

Okay. Community bulletin. be um uh before we go to community bulletin, I just want to take the time to thank all the volunteers that we have um in all our boards and commissions and what they do, the work that they do is obviously because of a sense of duty to the city. They volunteer to do that. But also, and this isn't why they do this, but it there's an offset for the city, and I've been talking to some of the board members across the board, um, youth commission and some of the others I I was talking to, and, um, they give their time to the city, and it there is a financial benefit. I don't know exactly what the number is. We always report that, but, um, they're advisory to the city council, and without them, we would not be able to really run the city. So, I just wanted to say thank you to all of them, all the work that they do. Um, community bulletin. Mexican fruit flies have been detected in and around Laame Mesa. This invasive pest threatens California agriculture and can infest many fruits, including avocado, citrus, making them unsafe to eat. To contain the pest and quarantine, it is now uh in the place of La Mesa and the surrounding communities. Residents in the quarantine area should avoid moving any homegrown produce off their property. Please cooperate with agricultural officials working in the area. Report any signs of the fruitfly or maggots to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. You can either get that on the website or 1 8004911899. Join us for ebike information session on Tuesday, March 17th from 6:00 to 7:00 at the Laame Mesa Police Department community room. Learn about types of ebikes, state and local laws, and safety requirements. That's a a good thing to

attend whether you ride an ebike or not. We're hosting Talking Transit 101 uh training on Wednesday, March 18th at the Adult Enrichment Center. Starting at 10:30 a.m., participants will learn how to read schedules, plan trips, pay fees, and navigate bus and trolley routes. Another great thing because if you ever have wanted to take the trolley or a bus and you're standing at the um area where you purchase tickets, it can be a little daunting. So, please, if you want to attend that, March 18th at the Adultton Richmond Center at 10:30 a.m., calling all vendors who want to make a positive impact on the environment, showcase your sustainable products and services at the upcoming Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 18th at MacArthur Park. Apply today. And my last is help us keep the community clean and sign up for the next litter-free La Mesa community cleanup along the Alvarado Avenue storm water channel on Saturday, March 21st from 900 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Vice Mayor Casaurus.

Thank you. Um a happy St. Patrick's Day next week to everyone. You can see some of us have got some green on tonight. Uh and also this is not in La Mesa, but this is open to everyone in the community. Um, on this Friday from 11 am to 2 pm at the Logan Heights Branch Library, the United States Postal Service will be launching a brand new stamp. It's a forever stamp recognizing uh low writers and u lowr. It's called the low writers forever stamp um and their cultural impact on the Latino community specifically in the San Diego area. So, if you'd like to join us, it's a free event. You'll be able to purchase the new stamps that day and you'll also be able to have them formally cancelled by the USPS. So, if you're a collector, it's a great opportunity.

Very good. Uh, Council Member Suzuki. I don't have a report. Thank you. Council member Lotheian. Low rider cars or low rider jeans? Low rider cars.

Okay. All right. All right. A couple things. Um, we have a really popular button on our homepage. It's called um active developments. I don't know if you've ever been on it. Uh, but you click on it and it shows you all the big projects that are happening in La Mesa. Very colorful, lots of descriptions, maps. If you click on it, shows you where it is in La Mesa and it's fantastic. We lost it last week. Everybody panicked and it's back. Uh, and so I want everybody to know if you if you went on it and just saw a plain black and white PDF, it is now back to color and interactive. I want to thank Amanda Lee and the staff for working so fast and hard to get that going again. Uh, number one. Number two, uh, the Laame Mesa Village Association uh, did an annual their first annual taste of La Mesa Village last year. Hundreds of people bought tickets. It was fantastic. It's from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 23rd, but you um but you can't buy tickets until this Friday on their website and they sell out. So, if you want to do the taste of La Mesa Village, you go buy your tickets quickly. And then also um there is a um a a house on uh Johnson Drive in La Mesa where a a La Mesa drainage ditch has eaten their yard until only an inch or two of yard is left. Their entire foundation is exposed and vulnerable. The city of Lame Mesa has been going through these hurdles to fix this problem and I understand that we just got through environmental uh and we're going to be putting the job out to bid to build a concrete pipe and build rebuild that yard and this is something where a city is paying attention to one individual house that really needs it. So I think that's fantastic. I think I love the fact that we're still a tight enough town and close-knit enough where one person's house having this problem has got the city's attention. And so the only question I have and I can ask you anytime is I know that the jobs are now ready to go to bid and uh and then after that they're going to build it and it'll be before the storms hit again probably. Okay. All right. That's it for me. Thank you,

Council Member Dillard.

Thank you. Um I just wanted to remind everyone about the uh Spring Street uh housing project that is uh coming up. uh will be breaking ground um late May, early June of this year. And um I'm I'm pretty excited about it because last week I attended the Skyline um affordable housing project in Rancher Bernardo, uh just down the street from my mom. So I was excited about that. Um uh the project was beautiful. It was stunning. And um I was really impressed with the materials that they used and the way that uh the building looked. Uh for us um it's the same developer. And so we're going to have uh 150 total units of um studio 30 like 35 studios, 38 onebedrooms, 37 twobedrooms, and 38 threebedrooms. 100% affordable housing. So, I just um I'm excited about this project. Um it's it's a a gifted land where this is going to be built, which is um uh I'm a board of director for the Metropolitan Transit System. And I'm um excited that for the fact that MTS is able to gift this land and have um uh a project like this built. So, um that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, next are additions and deletions by staff or council. None from staff. Thank you. Our next uh we have a presentation. I'll be leaving the room for the mayor's state of the city video. Just kidding.

Don't want to have to don't don't want to watch this. Hello, La Mesa. I'm Mayor Mark Rapastath. I'm honored to share highlights from a year that's been defined by progress. Together, we are investing in programs that support our residents and businesses, continuing to build a thriving community that we're all proud to call home. We began the year with major improvements across our streets, sewers, and storm water systems. These projects protect our neighborhoods and ensure long-term reliability. Public Works completed several city-wide projects, including street striping, red curb painting, pothole repairs, street replacements, and more. Our commitment to preventative maintenance has paid off. The city approved the second amended regional wastewater disposal agreement. This will ensure reliable wastewater treatment for the next 40 years. The Boulevard Drive storm drain improvement project installed a 200 ft doubleboxed covert along the La Mesa San Diego border. This major upgrade alleviates flooding in the 69th Street and University Avenue area, protecting homes and making our streets safer during heavy rains. Across our streets, we completed more than 100 work orders for safety projects, a 75% increase from last year. These include parking tees, trafficcoming measures, pedestrian safety improvements, and the village ballard safety project. The slurry seal project has continued. We treated over 2.5 million square ft of roadway, the largest slurry seal project in La Mesa's history, including Fletcher Parkway, Baltimore Drive, and Elone Boulevard. Slurry helps extend pavement life, saving future costs. These infrastructure improvements were made

possible through fiscal responsibility. The city council adopted the 2025 2027 bianual budget. This strong and balanced spending plan supports long-term fiscal sustainability and advances community priorities. Laame Mesa continued its leadership in climate action and sustainability programs. We launched an ebike incentive pilot program. This provides residents and employees vouchers to support the purchase of an ebike. 41 participants now use their ebikes regularly to replace car trips. Our clothing swap series recirculated more than 2,800 lb of clothing. and our tree giveaway distributed 95 drought tolerant trees to residents. This year, we hired our first ever community cleanup coordinator. And in less than a year, we cleaned nearly 30,000 lbs of trash. That's almost a football fields worth of debris removed from our community. We removed 518 shopping carts from our roadways, returning them to their proper locations. While we have a dedicated person working hard every day keeping Lame Mesa beautiful, takes all of us. We still need our community to do their part. Through Litterfree La Mesa, volunteers removed nearly 1,000 pounds of trash, keeping our public spaces vibrant and clean. Next year, we plan to continue building on this important work. The city launched five new pre-approved accessory dwelling unit or ADU designs, offering residents faster and more affordable options for building housing. Development remains strong with 1,500 permits issued in 2025. The city council approved Grossmont C Center's refresh plan to modernize the cent's facade and to improve their community gathering space. Costco expanded their warehouse and are increasing the number of gas pumps while also enhancing vehicular circulation. And be on the lookout. Other popular businesses are looking to make La Mesa their home. Keeping La Mesa safe is our number one

priority. In 2025, Laame Mesa saw an 11% reduction in property crime. We also saw significant decreases in commercial burglary, theft, and autotheft. The Lame Mesa Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement expanded their team to add another clinician and housing navigator. They helped permanently house 62 individuals this year, housing 204 people since the program began in 2021. The police department welcomed new team members, made key promotions, and continued building strong community relationships. This year, we also experienced profound loss with the death of Officer Lauren Craraven, who was killed in the line of duty on October 20th. Her strength, courage, and sacrifice will never be forgotten. As we honor her legacy, we reaffirm our commitment to standing together. We are one strong community. Building on that strength, H Heartland Fire and Rescue achieved a major milestone in 2025. The department successfully completed its 5-year insurance services office classification review, and once again, it earned the ISO class one public protection classification, the highest rating available. Out of about 38,000 fire districts across the country, Hartland Fire and Rescue ranks in the top 1%. Beyond emergency response, the department continues to strengthen preparedness and coordination. And as many in the community experienced firsthand the fire station 11 pancake breakfast was once again a huge success, firefighters serve more than 1,400 meals. Year after year, this event creates meaningful connections between first responders and the community they serve. Community connection remained a focus across city services. In 2025, our newly renamed parks and recreation

department continued expanding programs that brought residents together. Program participation grew significantly. This includes an 18% increase in aquatics enrollment and 14% growth in summer day camp. At the adult enrichment center, we provided more than 11,000 meals to our active older adult population. We celebrated Carol Lockwood who since 1985 volunteered more than 4,000 hours of service to La Mesa. You can visit Carol Star along with our beautiful murals in the Walkway of the Stars in the downtown village. Events like Sundays at 6 summer concerts, community workshops, and Earth Day brought residents of all ages together. We are excited to continue growing the city's community focused programs in 2026. Lame Mesa is moving forward, building safer streets, modern infrastructure, sustainable programs, and community services that enrich daily life. None of this work is possible without our city council staff, regional partners, volunteers, businesses, and most importantly, you. Thank you for your continued support and passion for Lame Mesa. I'm excited to see our continued progress in 2026.

Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Just I want to personal thanks to our communications manager um Miss Aguilar and um also to Miss Lee and to Miss Row for being in the park with me and helping me get through all that narration. God bless them both. And so it was a team effort. They worked with the the new group. They selected the group that um produced this. And I I'm grateful to all three of them because without that without them this wouldn't have happened. So anyways, next we have public comment. Um general public comment uh Barbie Wheeler.

Welcome it down a little bit. that better. Good evening, mayor, council members. Um, thank you for the time you're giving me to address our issue on Belfflower Drive. I am here representing the residents on Belfflower Drive. We again are very concerned about the drug house and the group home on our small street. I want to thank Council Member Laura Cosades and Lauren Casades and Laura Lo Lothium for their investigation that they've been doing and keeping us informed. That's what's important that to us. They um you're doing it on our our behalf and we appreciate it. Here are our concerns. The Department of Health Care Services already issued a a cease and desist for Evans advertising without a license and then they approve his license application anyway. Who's in charge? What about zoning? How can the city allow group two group homes next to each other? One a drug house and one a youth home. better active on being um they should not be there and should not be on a small residential street like Belfflower Drive. It causes traffic and they park all up and down the street. Richard Evans is a criminal. When he was investigated, he took a sign down. Two weeks later, it's back up. And as I speak tonight, it's still up there. All right. He's advertising his so-called drug detox home. I want to know the name of the DHS person who was has approved his application. Tell me where I can go to talk to them. I will talk face to face

to them and I will actually escort them onto our street so they can see what they've done to our street. I spent today reading over more than 250 pages of information on policies for the city of Lameisa. I came upon this policy LU-2.2-3 Homebased businesses shall be permitted subject to standards which will preserve the residential character of the neighborhood. quote to ensure the residential character is to preserve business owners must agree to the following

seconds. No deliveries, no residents, no employees, no other permanent residents, no signs or advertising, no storage, no traffic com customer traffic. As I've stated, Evans has a sign up as I speak. This is against your policy. There is traffic at all hours of the night. We're asking you to look into your own policies and find see what you can do and the zoning codes. Thank you for your comment. Your Thank you.

We have one additional speaker. I was told It's Brian Mcny. McNise, welcome. Did I say that correctly? I'm sorry. Just trying to Yes, Brian Mcnes. Thank you.

Yes, I'm um my wife and I have owned a townhouse here in La Mesa for 30 years. We're right next door to Aztec Park and that's a wonderful facility. We thank you very much for it. I'm a retired educator from Imperial Valley College and I'm also a volunteer gardener at the La Mesa Community Garden and we're starting I'm starting my fourth year as a gardener there. It's a wonderful idea. As you know, the La Mesa Community Garden is on the putting green of the old golf course and the old clubhouse is now a workshop. But we have a problem at the La Mesa Community Garden. And you had a wonderful video and I'd like to add an item to it. And that is our water supply. Today the water's been off for nine days in a row and we uh we're told there's no date for when it's going to be turned back on. my um colleague Jennifer like here in the audience and I kind of want to the two of the most active volunteers trying to make the garden better and we have a an app where we have a chat for all the gardeners called Discord. We can go back and from starting in November 30th of 2022, we've had 209 different times when the water was off totaling 120 days of no water to the garden. Now, in the clubhouse, we have a sink and we can put a hose on the end of the sink and we we can take it out into the garden. And the water in the clubhouse is work workshop is has been always on. But it's really difficult to get the hose 150 ft hose take it to the garden and it's really heavy and then by the time you get 150 ft of w of hose you don't have much pressure and only one person can use it at a time. Plus you always have a mess because there's inevitably leakage and you have to mop up the water. So we would like to our

water to be on for a garden. We have 43 beds and many hoses in the garden. It's well set up, but over and over we have to tell gardeners, "The water's on, the water's off. The water's on, the water's off." And right now, we're in planting season. This is the time when people are renewing their gardens, planting, and getting the spring off to a start. So, I would just ask you to please keep our water on. And here's a little report if you'd like to have a copy of the days the waters have been off. Thank you. Uh, next speaker is Randy Binder.

Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, staff, city council. Uh, Randy Binder, 5708 Baltimore Drive, number 389. Um, my wife and I moved to this fine city about two years ago because our daughter and son-in-law live in the area and we have a new grandson. And I have pictures if you want to see it. Um, I just want to say that uh, uh, my wife and I appreciate living in this community, city of La Mesa. Um, in my humble opinion, I, uh, my career was with the city of Rancho Mirage in the Coachella Valley, 25 years in the planning department, seven years as city manager, and um, and you don't want to compare other cities to the city that you worked for. um a little biased, but uh we chose this location and we're very happy to be here. I just want to say thank you and uh doing a great job. Thank you very much.

Wow. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We just like to say thank you. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. We appreciate that. Um thank you.

Yeah, we don't usually get that. Yeah, under under the time and a positive comment. That's a person that knows city council meeting. So, thank you, sir. Um, next on the agenda is uh board and commission appointments for the um appointing a member to the unscheduled vacancy of the arts and culture commission. And um the name is um Guthrie Leonard. We only I think we only had one applicant, so I'm going to forward his name.

I'll second. motion carries with all council members voting yes. Have any public comment cards on consent calendar or is anybody going to pull anything? Move to adopt it. Oh, unbel right on. Great. Thank you so much, Suzuki. Um, motion Dillard second. Thank you.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes. Thank you. This meeting should be on St. Patrick's Day. Okay. Thank you. Uh, sorry. Making sure item number 121 is a staff report consideration of the 50% cost recovery policy with um alternative policy for the three-year October Fest special event permit. Mr. Deadmond, welcome.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Uh, the applicant for the October Fest three-year permit, McFarland Promotions, will be providing a brief presentation tonight. But first, staff will give a little bit of background. The item before you is a request for a 50% cost recovery reduction policy for a three-year Oktoberfest permit with an annual monetary cap of $40,000. The applicant's recently expired three-year permit had a council approved 50% cost recovery reduction policy with a $50,000 monetary annual cap. The council is not being asked to approve the special event tonight, special event permit tonight. only the policy that is attached to it. Our city manager approves all special events permits for the city. So with that, I will introduce Laurel McFarland with McFarland Promotions.

The adventure slide. Oh, where? Welcome. Hi, Mayor Council. Thank you. Did that here. There we are. Sorry. Thank you. Um, I appreciate the opportunity today to speak to you all. I have a quick presentation to go through. Let me October Fest hopefully did that.

We saw the first slide. Oh. first time. Thank you. It's not even 6:30. We're doing fine. Thank you. A one slide presentation. And we're done. Oh my god. Okay. Okay. Next slide. That's pretty bad when they take it away from you, but that Thank you. Next slide, please.

Sorry. I apologize. Um just this is just a quick slide that tells that Laame Mesa it's been going on for 50 years. It's an amazing tradition. We were blessed to actually be the stewards of it and take it over a little over 10 years ago. But these are just some fun slides for you to see how much um fun actually October Fest is. Next, please. Um, one thing we did this year is we always talk about that it has all this attendance but there's never like what is the proof that it really does something. So we had Placer AI data come into effect here and we found out there was um through the visitors there was 31,000 visitors typically in a day and for a weekend and there was 42,692 visitors per the weekend which is a 36% increase um on a typical weekend here in La Mesa. This gives you some industry um increases during the event weekends. But what this tells you is it does bring significant, you know, people ask does it bring people to the areas? Yes, it does. This isn't our just personal opinion. This is actually hard data. Um it increases foot traffic to the bene uh to benefits the restaurants, the retails, the hospitality business and it's a regional economic driver for the La Mesa village and the La Mesa for here because it obviously the tax impact from that as well and the sales tax. So we thought it was important to do that this year. So we did do that. Next, please. Um one thing is we've always been we we feel like we're honored to come into this community. We're a steward of this community. So, we have given back over the years. Um, we've given over $110,000 in donation to the La Mesa Village Association. Um, we've also done inind to La Mesa. We uh essentially with trade for helping them with their holiday in the village as well as um we've did a

monetary donation to the parks and recreation foundation. And some of you might know or not know, but we do support other nonprofits by giving them free booths and places to fund raise themselves for October Fest. So, Lil Mesa Police Department, the fire department uses it to recruit. The Mount Helix Charter High School uses it to promote themselves. The Kowanas Club uses it as a fundraiser. They're the they're the beef jerky peeps. And then the local scout troops always use it to fundra as well. and we offer that free to the community. If other nonprofits come in, we like to be supportive as well and to help. It's not just October Fest, it's a community event. Um, next, please. Um, we do ongoing collaboration with the Lamea Village Association. They're very important important to us. We always meet with them. They always have a say in the event and the look. Um, business promotion, we activate them. We've created um small business shopping on Sunday. We've done the artisan market. It's a new program that we've run down Allison Avenue um that's very like craft oriented. You have to have craft only to try and upgrade. We heard a lot from the community upgrade the vendors and so we um lowered the fees over there. Also have given complimentary vendor space for small and minority owned businesses as well throughout the years. Um each year we also try and include free events because we know it's very expensive to go out. So we have free hat making for the kids. That's with the Rad Hatters face painting. This last year we incorporated a pumpkin patch and pumpkin decorating. Of course, can't speak without dashhound races. I was told not to go on and on about the Dashhound races or I'll lose my time, but it's amazing. I love that. Um, we do the interactive dance square and games for all the kids. And then we do the children's story reading with local schools. So, we added that this year as well. And then one thing we're working on, this is with the chamber

right now. We're hoping it comes together, but um potentially having fundraising for them and having giving them some money and they help bring a volunteer program. So for volunteers, so we're looking to do that as well. Next, um LA Octoberfest, it's an annual reach of 50,000 attendees each year. We have over 250,000 website sessions in that in a period of um basically August to October and 3.5 million in media impressions. So that's television cover, regional lifestyle, digital media. So not what is that impact? It's increased visibility for La Mesa that you come by with this event brings that. It promotes Laame Mesa as a regional destination and it supports local businesses and tourism. So, we're proud of the media coverage we secure for the event. Next, please. Um, so we're asking respectfully for us to continue to be able to donate and keep offering free and also economic keep things at a lower cost because, as you know, things have increased quite a bit. We've done our best to try and keep things even the ferris wheel things that we do have a cost that it's kept down and you guys were gracious enough to help us in the past is a 50% cost recovery with a cap of 40,000 annually. Our fees are usually around 36,000 is what we pay typically in our police fees. So that's why we capped it at 40. Um and we're asking for a three-year special event permit so that we can plan for the future. Um one of the things is we'll keep admission free for the community. will keep doing that. This provides free and nominal cost and we offer complimentary nonprofit and support small business. So that's what we continue to use. If you're like what are they using that money for? It's to keep things cost and reasonable for the community and everyone that comes for this event. Next, please. Um just kind of recap. 50,000 attendees. This is why

we love 36% visitor increase. 167,000 we have invested back into the community, free community programming and regional media. It's a lot that this little event has grown to do and it's a pretty fabulous event. So, we're very proud of that. And um we also just don't want you to take our word that this is a community event that people love. So, we did get some letters of recommendation because I think it's important that you see that the community does support this and that was in your packet as well. I wanted uh you to know the La Mesa, the La Mesa chamber, lumber, the scouting, and one of the things when we took October Fest was kind of have to say a little bit divided. And I feel like the community, one of the things I'm most proud of is it feels like the chamber, the mesa, everyone has come around the love of this event and it's no longer divisive. It feels like something everyone is super proud of. So, we just want to continue that as well. And these are the event dates. We just put that in. So if you're wondering the 2026, 2027th, and the 2028 dates

and I think that is it for my presentation. Um questions, Miss McFarland, Vice Mayor Casaris, I just wanted to say thank you um for your presentation. It was very thorough. Um and uh I have something that I want to run by you. So if you the end of this meeting will be pretty soon I think. So I would love to chat with you briefly. I just wanted to name that. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Okay. Okay. Got it. I have a question. Okay. I'm sorry. Sorry, council members.

Um thank you Miss McFarland for coming. Um so I have a question. Do you have any kind of um data on and I don't I don't think I if I missed it I apologize. any kind of data on what kind of um proceeds come in? I know that you said that it obviously I mean it would stand to reason that we would increase it, but I'm just trying to figure out how much money is brought into the city at that time or at or how much is Oktoberfest itself?

Um October Fest costs a little almost a million dollars to produce. Um when we took it over it started at around a half a million dollars. So unfortunately it's just gone up and up over the years even and we've tried to keep the cost as low as possible. Um the one thing that we do have the placer ID um AI that does bring in 36% more business so you could equate that. I don't have how that equates to sales tax but definitely would have a a direct correlation to that. So, I do know it does and it was nice to see that data from that um that app that did it and honestly the Gasump Court Association has that app and they let me use it because it's really expensive but they let us pull the data from that app for this.

Thank you. Of course. Would like to say also thank you. It's good to have a three-year contract and you're right. I've lived through many years of Oktoberfest and the divisiveness and I think you're you're right. So, I'm going to make a motion to approve a 50% cost recovery reduction policy with the 40,000 annual cap on the alternative uh for a three-year October Fest events permit. Second. Oh. Oh, okay. You got it first.

All right. apologies. So I have who made the motion was um correct. The second was council member Loy and I apologize and the motion carried with all council members voting yes. Thank you. We really appreciate it. We'll continue to do good. See you in October. Yes. I'll wait after.

Okay. Um item 122 is a consideration of authorizing the impleation of temporary speed humps. Uh Mr. Canard, welcome.

Thank you. Um first slide, please. We got good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, staff, and the public. I'm Mike Canard in the engineering department and I want to provide a presentation and we are looking for your approval on a temporary speed hump pilot policy and a program for for one year. So let me forward the presentation. Okay, so the program over overview again uh this was brought as a council initiated item back in June of last year and uh at that point staff looked at it immediately took a very quick concern on on on some items and we basically started to enact some of that policy. So as part of that policy and the first thing we did was we we went out and looked at putting in some temporary speed hump examples and you can see those out on Date Avenue. Um, and in addition to that, the the request for this was to eventually try to implement this in our phase one policy. Um, and the idea behind that was that we could be able to deploy these more into the public in a faster manner than we currently do. So, if I forward here, um, so the intent of this policy is to first explain what those temporary humps are. If you haven't seen them, they're out on Date Avenue. They are usually of a rubber, a hard composite rubber. Um, and the idea behind the original deployment was to get feedback. So, we went out, we got a lot of public feedback. And again, uh, this allows us to do a couple things. It allows us to see how the longevity of these speed humps last. It also allows us to see how effective they are. And with that, these are the two speed humps styles that we installed. The first is a 25 mph speed hump, and that really is the farthest one from Allison Avenue. Again, it's rated for a 25 mph

speed reduction. The speed hump that you see in the front, which is closest to Allison Avenue, is a 20 mph speed hump. And that isn't a speed hump we're looking at right away, but as we begin to deploy another program here, uh, Assembly Bill 43, which is our safety corridors. This may be a device we use for this in the future. So, uh, some of the feedback that we've received. So we we put out this uh this original feedback back in November, December when we first deployed it and then we've since um added a new speed hump that was the 25 mile hump and we got over 105 respondents. Of those 105 respondents, 70% felt that there was a speed reduction. Uh 56% felt safety was improved and we got a 66% opinion on the visibility of them being able to see them day or night. So we got some positive feedback. So again, and the other big item I wanted to point out was that 63% rating for ride of comfortable and acceptable. And that is important because one of our biggest concerns with speed humps is emergency response. So we really want to install humps that say our uh ambulance services or fire services or police services can still drive the speed limit and get to response in a safe manner. All right. So, um, one of our what's our plans with these? So, again, we're in what I call a pilot development program. So, we really want to get some more feedback to city council. So, as part of that, we are going to plan to initially deploy 10 units to two streets, Lois and Dugan. Why did we choose Lois and Dugan? They were the two top priority streets on our uh traffic calming program. The other reason was was we had the opportunity when this was initiated back in June of last year to meet with both of these neighborhoods. So, both of these neighborhoods got to vote on the speed humps. So, we were looking for a

simple majority, 50% plus one, and both these neighborhoods voted to have temporary speed humps temporarily installed on their streets until we could put the permanent ones in. So, we're anticipating about a six-month period of testing on those two streets. In addition, we're looking at a flexible inventory of 10 additional units to deploy on some other streets as we begin to decide how we're going to prioritize those streets, which is something we plan to bring back to city council during our trafficcoming program, our annual program, probably in the June period. So, that's when you plan to see our how we've but our plan is is to go by that priority list that we already have, not to cheat anyone else or cut or make cuts. Um again, uh the the idea behind that flexible inventory is that it will rotate. We're looking at six months to a year to keep those out on the streets. Again, that's something we're still researching, but that's kind of the intent. Um this program is relatively a new program. There were very few cities that have a temporary speed hunt program. So, it is kind of exciting to say. Um two of the cities we were able to find, one is in Lawrence, Kansas. So we did want to let you know kind of what their experiences were. Um they did before and after studies. So we kind of learned a little bit from that. So we are going to do a before test and an after test. So what we'll do before we put the speed humps down, we will put what we call speed uh basically check the speeds and the volumes on the streets and then we will deploy these speed humps and then at the end of the trial period we'll be able to give you how much reduction and how much safety was improved on those streets. So again we found one in Lawrence, Kansas. That's where Kansas University is.

That's Kansas University. Correct. And the other one was in Burlington, Vermont. So, we were kind of all over the place.

Uh, and again, um, the same way they were trying to again, uh, reduce their speeds, they went with a little bit more aggressive speed hump. Again, uh, one of the importance of our speed humps is that at least our emergency services need to get to their places on time. So, the 25 was important to us. So, kind of what we learned. Um again there is a little lack of guidance but there is a lot of excitement about um seeing how these work out. Um these two locations in particular were in colder climates so they do pull theirs uh in and out. So that won't be the case where we are in La Mesa. So we would deploy ours basically on either a six or 12 month period uh similar to what they do but again they pull it up during the winters. Um there are some other national programs. They're currently in the pilot stage. So again, that's why we're putting a pilot program out so we can come back to you in a year um with more results with with what things we've learned as well as any ideas that you may have that you want us to make improvements on. Um but so far they're perceived positively by the public and they are shown to be effective. And here's our milestones just to give you an idea when uh so again we are right here. We are at the initial pilot. Uh again, we've kind of deployed our temporary measures and and uh just a one little outreach on the pilots. We did get feedback from the neighborhoods that we've already spoken with. They wanted to see examples. They wanted to see what they were driving over, what they were going to drive over before we deployed these. So, we've already we've already moved past that stage. And again, this is our initial deployment. Uh there is an eight sometimes 12week lead time on these. They are popular. Um, uh, the Department of Transportation had a large order in front of us, but the plan is is tonight to get that approval from you, um, as part of, uh, the pilot program to be able to go out and obtain those, uh, speed humps and be able to deploy those. And we hope to have all that installed by the July period. And then after that, go, you know, back out and start looking at that flexible deployment. What streets are going to be rep prioritized? Uh, and that's something we'll bring back to you with those suggestions and

making sure you have a chance to approve what our priority list is going to be. And again after that in a year's time we will adapt our our policy again this pilot policy will have learning lessons for us. We'll come back in a year and have sort of a policy change because there are some issues right now in our policy where speed humps were not allowed. We want to make sure all those are cleaned up before we bring this back at the end of uh probably about this time next year. And with that well that was my last slide. Okay. questions for Mr. Canard? Yes, Council Member Dillard.

Um, okay. Um, thank you so much for uh the presentation. I really appreciate that. Um, I just had a question on uh page seven and eight. Um, the two um cities that you use. Um, I just wanted to know what on those particular streets, um, is that a comparison to the streets that we're going to be doing on, uh, Lois and whatever the other one,

that's it. So, I just want to know the volume, like is that going to be a fair comparison? Is this about the same type of traffic? Yeah, council member, that's a good question and and I honestly we don't have the information as to exactly what those volumes were on those streets. That wasn't supplied any of the data we could find, but we can definitely follow up with you and find out what the volumes may have been on those streets. We're have to reach out to both those cities. I just think it would be helpful in the survey. um especially with the residents on the street. Um uh that would help us know um if if um the volume is high uh and there's a difference a big a wide difference um then that might be something to consider. Okay.

And thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Uh council member Lotheian. Uh thank you for the presentation. I was with you when you were on the streets. Those neighborhoods big. I do appreciate the support council member. So, uh, a couple questions I have for you is, um, you were talking about after our pilot program, you you if it works out, there would be a priority list. Is this list made by neighborhoods petitioning or is it by staff driving around looking for problems?

So, this would be by petitioning, council member. We would, in fact, we would probably use the list that we have existing. We would have to go back out and do some outreach. We expect to again, we'll present that, but some of these never voted on temporary humps. So we would re we would need to go and engage with those neighborhoods and have a sort of vote to make sure they were supportive of it. The last thing we want to do is install it on a street that we don't have support for. Exactly. And then um I did the math and these are approximately 4,000 something. Now I heard that the concrete humps that we do are around 20 grand. Is that right? That's correct. So this is to be more nimble. Yes. And to be cost effective.

Yes. And more flexible, you know, 6 months, 12 months, and we could put them in another street. Right. and and you presented once and it was like decades some neighborhoods have waited for this. So, okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Council member Lotheian, would you like to make a motion? Yes. There you go. So, um I would like to make a motion to approve the mobility commission and staff's recommendation that the city council authorize um staff to implement the temporary speed hump pilot program and approve the procurement of 20 temporary speed hubs. Second. Okay. Sorry, I haven't second. So go ahead. No, go ahead. That's fine. Vice Vice Mayor second. Thank you, Mr. Canard. Thank you. Good report.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes. Council committee reports. I'll start with council member Dillard. Okay. Council member Lotheian. Oh, sorry. Council member Suzuki, uh, Vice Mayor Casares, uh, I've got Sandag on Friday. If there's anything big that happens, I will report back. And also the MacArthur Park, uh, subcommittee will be meeting, I believe, next week, myself and, uh, Council Member Dillard. Did anyone travel? March 23rd.

City attorney comments. So, I'm just going to say uh, because I never do this, but our theater, Peter Pan Jr. theater which is we always talk about supporting the arts in La Mesa and supporting children in the arts. These are children in the arts and it's an all volunteer program. Our production of Little Avenue opens the 25th. I'm inviting the entire city council uh to be my guest. So if you'd like tickets um on me, please email me. All right. Uh for that we're adjourned until March 24th. freak.