City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress

Hi. Yep, right in the back with the woman with the green cardigan. I know I said cardigan, but I do not know what that is. Green.

a little bit a little bit

good evening welcome to the city council meeting for july 29th 20th madam clerk will you please call roll council member dillard here council member lothian here council member suzuki president vice mayor cazares mayor mayor rapistathis here

we begin every meeting with a flag salute invocation and tonight uh council member lothian will present those council member lothian okay thank you mr mayor uh so uh tonight's invocation uh is about the special bonds between moms and daughters and who do i see in the audience but deanne and her mom dolores and so you guys epitomize the best of mom daughter relationships you guys are best friends your business partners your moms and daughters I lost my own mom eight months ago, and so this quote I'm about to say is in honor of her, in honor of you guys, in honor of my daughters, their daughters, my daughter-in-law, all moms and daughters. It's a quote with no author or the author unknown, but we all recognize the truth, and it says, behind every great daughter is a truly amazing mom.

Thank you. Next on the agenda are city manager comments.

I have none.

Thank you. Community Bulletin Reports. The UC San Diego Health invites you and the East County residents to join me for a hosted lunch and community conversation about their new East County Campus Center. You'll hear updates about the campus transformation and expanded specialty services from UCSD Health Leadership. We'll also have a panel with leaders from MTS, Heartland Fire and Rescue to discuss emergency response, transportation, access to care. Space is limited, so please reserve your space and if you're wondering where UCSD Health is, it's the former Alvarado Hospital. And so UCSD Health now is running the former Alvarado Hospital and so they're back up, they'd like to explain to everybody what they're doing to rehab that. Learn essential cycling tips, including bike safety basics, handling techniques, road rules, cycling classes on Saturday, August 1st, starting at 10 a.m. at the La Mesa Library. Please register ahead. City of La Mesa, in partnership with the East County Economic Development Council, is pleased to bring back the La Mesa Entrepreneur Accelerated Program LEAP. The program offers free advising, technical assistance, and development support for for-profit businesses located within the incorporated city of La Mesa. It has been open for at least a year. Applications will be accepted until August 15th. Join the San Diego Regional Climate Coalition collaboration for a webinar showcasing the San Diego Heat Risk Explorer program. the first interactive heat risk map of San Diego County. The tool combines data to identify the biggest drivers of heat risk for each neighborhood. The informational webinar is on August 18th at 2 p.m. Information about all these events can be found on our website. Vice Mayor Casares.

thank you first the mount helix food and wine festival is coming up on saturday august 15th this annual event features outstanding local restaurants wineries breweries bakeries live entertainment and a silent and live auction all while raising funds to support the preservation of mount helix park tickets are available for folks 21 plus now at mountmthelixpark.org forward slash festival. I'd also like to take a moment to recognize two important public safety improvements that have been recently completed in Northwest La Mesa, where I live. I really love seeing public works out in the field, and I've seen them every day for about the past two weeks. First, I want to thank our public works and engineering staff for completing the replacement of the street light on Baltimore Drive and Lake Parkway. That was a long-awaited repair following the tragic pedestrian fatality at the intersection last year. And I know many residents have been advocating for its replacement. I even received a text last week from neighbors who were so pleased to see the new pole finally installed. While staff continue to evaluate additional pedestrian safety improvements at the location, I think it's really important to recognize the improvements and progress that have been made. I also want to thank Public Works for completing the Dugan Avenue road diet and adding temporary speed bumps. This is another great example of our commitment to making neighborhood streets safer for everyone. And as someone who, again, lives in northwest La Mesa, I've heard from many residents who appreciate the city's continued investment in the area.

Council member Suzuki.

I wanted to recognize our mayor, Dr. Mark Rapastathis. He was honored as 79th District's Arts Man of the Year on July 19th, and I was so proud to see him receive that award. He's done so much with our Peter Pan Junior Theater. We're so blessed for that. I'd also like to just recognized that he also did a lot for our Sundays at Six. He started our Sundays at Six concerts, and we celebrated our, we had our last concert, and it was fantastic yesterday, oh, Sunday. It feels like it was yesterday, but it was Sunday. And it was jazz in the park, so if you didn't make it this year, come next year. We're going to continue on. I've been assured that we'll continue on, and it's just a wonderful way to celebrate being a LaMason and enjoy our parks.

Thank you. Council Member Lothian?

Yes, I'm sure everybody noticed that our red, white, and blue stripes came down from our palm trees and our bunting came down. I want to thank the city for delaying their removal. They were going to take it down right after the Flag Day Parade, but they delayed it for the World Cup. It looks really empty now. I miss it. But everyone loved the patriotism. And I just, again, want to thank Vice Mayor Lauren Cazares for really giving it a lot of zest. We had a lot of fun with it. And then also, I just learned that the temporary speed hump program is now in effect. They just commenced work on Dugan Avenue yesterday. I just went and drove by it. It's so awesome to see. And I know there's so many neighborhoods around La Mesa that want it. I'm actually getting calls from Lemon Grove and La Jolla Shores. They want them too. So that's my community bulletin report.

Thank you. Council Member Dillard. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to make an announcement that La Mesa Chamber will hold an annual mixer Anthony's Fish Grotto on July the 29th. And they'll be celebrating their 80th anniversary. So I thought that was worth mentioning. If you want to celebrate with them, come out in the evening. I think it starts at 530, 530. Thank you.

Thank you. One last announcement. Just trying to tell everybody and we're trying to remind everyone that the La Mesa Spring Valley School starts on August 6th. So just be aware there's going to be lots of parents and children trying to get to school the first few days. And in fact, the days before that as kids come with their parents to check out class lists and everything else. So if you live around a school or if you're nearby, just be aware there's going to be lots of children and parents crossing the streets and being around there. Thank you. Addition to these deletions by staff or council? None from staff. Okay. We have a special presentation. I'm going to hand this over to Council Member Dillard.

We need the mic.

Okay.

Can you hear me now? Yes. I'd like to call up Dolores Bureau.

So you can't.

So I'm not worried. Whereas, for more than four decades, Dolores Wheeler has exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit, generosity, and unwavering commitment that define the very best of the state of the nation. Whereas, 44 years ago, with limited financial resources and no prior retail experience, Dolores courageously opened Act II, Ladies' Resort, transforming a small retail shop into a tiered Mesa institution that grew to four locations and became a welcoming gathering place for generations of residents. Thereat, Through her vision, perseverance, and dedication, Dolores created meaningful employment opportunities, fostered lasting relationships, and built a business known not only for its success, but also for its warmth, compassion, and community spirit. Whereas, Dolores has devoted countless hours of volunteer service to the city of Lameza serving as an ambassador and later a member of the board of directors of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, actively participating in Kiwanis and working tirelessly to strengthen the community she has long called home. Thereat, her leadership helped establish many of the divisions and organizations that continue to enrich Kiwanis including her instrumental role in the early development of Holiday in the Village. Her efforts to bring a farmer's market to La Mesa Village and her work as a founding member of an early La Mesa Village Association helping shape the vibrant downtown district enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. Whereas, Throughout her life, Dolores has quietly demonstrated extraordinarily generosity by providing clothing, gifts, and hope to women living in residential homes, supporting families in the need during the holidays, and giving freely of her time, resources, and compassion to those facing difficult circumstances. And whereas the countless stories shared by employees, customers, neighbors, and friends stand as a testament to the lives she has touched through her kindness, mentorship, encouragement, and selfless service, leaving an enduring legacy that extends far beyond her business. Now, therefore, I, Mark, 23rd Mayor of the City of Lameza, and the entire City Council, do hereby recognize and honor Dolores.

We have something for you. Beautiful, right? Good job, good job. So come up and talk next to me. I believe in giving you the flowers while you're still here. That's why we're giving you the flowers. Oh my gosh.

She thought we were coming here to talk about parking. That's what I told her. So we've been practicing for a few weeks on what she was going to say.

And she's not kidding. It's the truth. I have to do this. I can't do it. But all I can say is thank you. And everybody knows how much I love you. I had my screenshot written for you. Thank you so much, everyone, for coming out and celebrating this.

Tomorrow is her 93rd birthday, and we didn't even plan that.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday dear Dolores.

Happy birthday to you.

At least go celebrate somewhere. Hope they're gonna go celebrate you somewhere. While they're exiting, I'm going to invite our next presenter for findings of the Downtown La Mesa Trolley Prioritization Study. Welcome. We need to tap your mic. There you go.

Good evening council members. Over the last year, city staff has coordinated with Sandag to study options for trolley improvements here in downtown La Mesa. So I would like to introduce Cecily Taylor, senior regional planner from Sandag to present the findings of that study.

Welcome. Thank you. Excited to be here and share what we learned. This study was originally requested by city council, actually, to look into projects, as Carly said, that could improve the trolley and also alleviate traffic delays experienced where it crosses the roadways. And this is in consideration of longer term planned service increases that are expected on the Orange Line. The timing of those service increases is not known at this time, but it is noted in the regional plan that trains could come every seven and a half minutes in the future. And without any changes, the traffic delays in La Mesa would significantly increase. So city council asked city staff to partner with SANDAG to start to evaluate potential solutions that could maintain mobility and safety across all modes within the village. And we were successful in securing a Caltrans planning grant to start exploring some of these options. So with that, we took on this study. And we focused on the downtown segment, you can see in the map here, where the Orange Line runs parallel to Spring Street and crosses five roadways from the I-8 off-ramp, Nebo Drive, down to Lemon Avenue. Next slide, please. We considered a range of options that could help with this. Some wanted to consider some potential short-term enhancements, those low-cost near-term improvements, as well as a few different concepts for a full grade separation. And that means shifting the roadway from the rail so that they're no longer crossing, and that would eliminate the safety and operational conflicts there. Next slide. Last fall, we conducted some public outreach to get early input before we took our concepts too far, and the community was very clear about their priorities. They want to maintain the village's character and identity, preserve access to the businesses in the village, improve multimodal safety, and avoid any long disruptions during construction. Community members also shared some concerns about the concepts that would produce a trench, either having the roadway trenched, lowered beneath the trolley, or having the trolley trenched. Very valid concerns related to potential visibility issues, security, the risk of vandalism or encampments. So hearing that feedback, go on to the next slide. We did at that point, excuse me, that's fine. We did at that point, based on that feedback and based on early conversations we were having with the technical staff at our partner agencies, decide to remove the roadway trench from consideration just for this study. That option would certainly be the most disruptive to the village. It would also mostly benefit those who are traveling through the village area rather than visiting the destinations nearby. It would be the most costly and it also received the most negative feedback in that early outreach. But from there we did move on to refine the concepts that remained. So here near-term improvements came up with a menu of different options that could be considered. Things that could improve safety or operations such as new crossing equipment, potential signal upgrades, new pedestrian connections, Even could be considered a pedestrian and bike bridge that could cross Spring Street and help those traveling on foot or by bike from crossing significant vehicle traffic. These are all lower cost and they can address safety and traffic delays, but really only incrementally. So moving on to some long-term concepts. One option considered was a full aerial guideway. That would mean elevating the trolley above the roadway. We see similar designs like this on parts of the blue and green lines. This concept would require shifting the La Mesa Boulevard station slightly north, just closer to the Civic Center here. And if you go to the next slide, you have a visual simulation. If you click Advance again, you get a sense of what this could look like from within the village. There's no doubt that this is a visually prominent structure. But we did note that there could be opportunities here. Beneath that elevated structure, we could have more pedestrian pathways, maybe plaza-type amenities. even small shops, landscaping, art. There is a benefit from elevating the trolley that all of the noise associated with the gate arms and the trolley horns as it crosses the roadway would be lessened. But when you are elevating the trolley, the noise associated with just the rail, the trolley wheels on the rail, those would be carrying further through the village. The next option is the trench where the trolley would be lowered beneath and crossing beneath the roadways. In this case, the station would shift similarly, just slightly north. And in this concept, we identified a design constraint. We couldn't quite fit the trench trolley below the I-8 off ramps without affecting the bridge across the freeway that's just to the north of that. So for our design here, we did leave that I-8 off ramp crossing at grade that all of the trolley gates and the crossing there would remain. But the other four streets, the trolley would pass beneath them. And we can go on to the visual simulation. You're standing looking at the La Mesa Boulevard station, looking north in advance. And you see that the trolley is lowered. In the distance, you can see that the cross streets would be sort of short bridges over the trench. And this would certainly reduce the visual impacts and noise impacts for nearby residents. But as I'll explain further, this is definitely a more complex project concept. And as a third option, we wanted to think of maybe an in-between, a scaled back version. So in this case, we looked at a shortened guideway that would focus on great separating the streets and the village core. So looking at two key intersections, La Mesa Boulevard and Lemon Avenue, the trolley would cross over that where we've heard there's significant queuing issues. And this would require closing the west side of Allison Avenue. That would kind of become a cul-de-sac to access just over here. And in this concept, the La Mesa Boulevard station would shift slightly south just across La Mesa Boulevard. And of course, we would the two high volume streets to the north, University Avenue and the I-8 off ramps would remain at grade. So we evaluated all of those concepts against a set of evaluation criteria and we developed these working closely with our city staff partners and other agency partners from MTS and Caltrans. We considered things like the user experience and that means safety and mobility and multimodal access. We thought about the operational needs and potential added maintenance costs that could be introduced for either MTS or the city. We thought about the construction complexity of each of the options, including environmental factors that could create risks during construction. We thought about community impacts, and that would include things like the historic resources along the rail or opportunities for new public amenities. And finally, we looked at possible economic opportunities and the effects on the adjacent properties. So that's all to say that there was certainly a lot of, sorry, could you actually go back? There's still a lot to cover here. There's a lot of complexity that went into this, and all of that is documented in the report. There'll be a link to the report at the end. But just to share the main takeaways, what we're seeing here is that full grade separation certainly brings a lot of benefit. There would be the greatest safety and mobility benefit from that, a number one, aerial rail guideway, or number two, the trench. But the trade-off is that these are complex projects. There would also be ongoing costs to consider associated with having a grade-separated station. You need more security. You need to maintain elevators and lighting in a different way than when it's at street level like it is today. The aerial guideway did seem to perform a bit better against our project goals. And some of that came down to it being just slightly, even though it's still a complex project, compared to the trench, there's just lowered risk, lowered complexity. It would also grade-separate all five intersections, as I noted. It's a significant new structure so that visual impacts is important to consider, but there could be some opportunities to incorporate it into the village character and maybe create new community spaces as part of that. The shortened aerial guideway is a lower cost, but it does also have reduced benefits. And lastly, the trench, while that certainly performs better in terms of reducing the visual and noise effects associated with the trolley, it is significantly more expensive and complex. There's a lot of risk associated with just needing to excavate that much to trench the trolley. But that doesn't mean that it can't be considered. Community members did express interest in our early outreach in considering having a lid over the trench. That could allow for some of that new community opportunity space, but that would significantly increase the cost and really require a lot more design than we were able to do in this study. The near term improvements, of course, are the easiest to fund and construct, but they do deliver more modest benefits and they wouldn't necessarily solve concerns about future traffic delays. I'll also note that we shared this with the Mobility Commission a couple of months ago. We heard from them that if there's future work looking into any of these concepts, there should be more technical analysis to quantify those mobility improvements and safety improvements. You could do maybe a full traffic study to answer some of those questions. They were also interested in better understanding the differences in noise impacts. And lastly, there was interest in developing those cost estimates for a trench with a lid. So that could be done in future phases. Okay, next slide please. So to move this project forward, this would certainly need a funding strategy to identify how to fund not just additional planning phases, but also the eventual design and construction. There are various grants for projects like this that improve safety or improve air quality, but while it's very fortunate that this location doesn't have a history of many severe crashes, that does mean that it would be less competitive for some of those discretionary fund sources. Also note that SANDAG is starting a regional grade crossing prioritization study where we'll look at all the places that any kind of rail, whether it's light rail or heavy rail, are crossing roadways or pathways within the region. And we'll have many more conversations to come together as a region to decide where we want to focus our resources and prioritize crossing improvements like this. So there's certainly more conversations to come to find out where these La Mesa crossings fit in that regional priority list. But as design continues on any of these concepts, there would be an opportunity to get that detail, better understand the trade-offs, better understand the benefits through those technical studies, and ultimately select a preferred concept. As part of the design, the city could also incorporate that village identity into the concept through architectural elements or public plaza type of features. And lastly, thinking ahead to possible construction of one of these, keeping in mind the community concern about the impact during construction and so identifying different or considering different delivery methods and finding one that can limit the community impact while balancing cost will be important. And just to take a step back and share some perspective of where we are, we've really just taken a first pass at these concepts, but there is another grade separation in the region that might provide some insight. The Palomar Street grade separation in Chula Vista has been studied for over 10 years now. There was first a planning study back in 2012, another study that was done in 2020. And just this year, that project got cleared environmentally to move into design and construction. And it's expected at this point, maybe six more years until that project is done. So that just gives you a sense that there's still a long path ahead, a lot more work to be done to move any of these ideas forward. But with that, can go to the last slide, please. This evaluation hopefully gives La Mesa a clear picture of its options, trade-offs, and the scale of investment required. It should provide a strong foundation for future decision-making when those funding opportunities are identified. And lastly, thank you to the City of La Mesa staff for being an engaged and collaborative partner in this effort.

Thank you. So in the end, talking about three quarters of a trillion dollars,

Of a billion dollars.

Pardon me. Oh, 100. I was looking at those numbers. How many zeros? Yeah. It was 740.

Million.

Million. Sorry. Okay. I was going to say, I thought there was an extra set of zeros. Sorry. So, but three quarters of a billion dollars. So yeah, all right. Well, thank you for that. Any other questions? Yes, Council Member Lothian.

Yeah, I have a few questions. The one I focused on the most was the elevated one, because that seemed to be kind of the one that you guys are focused on the most. And so the question I have for you is, Did you get any feedback from when you were surveying people in the village, again, with that whole village charm identity, that people were concerned about how industrial and concrete that looks? And I don't care if you draw flowers on it, it's never going to look villagey. So I was just wondering if you got negative feedback on that. And if all of a sudden, magically, the money appeared, how long would the construction be of that elevated overpass?

Yeah, I'll answer the second question first. We estimated maybe about 50 months, so a little a little more than four years of construction for the elevated. The trench would be a bit longer construction because this is more complex. In terms of the feedback, it was really interesting. We didn't have the detailed concepts. Again, we did go out early on, but we did say we're going to think about an elevated trolley. This is what it could look like, a picture from UTC. We're going to think about a trench trolley. This is what it could look like, an example from downtown San Diego. When we asked people, do you like that idea? Do you not like that idea? We got a wide range of responses. We did get the most negative feedback about the roadway trench. But even then, I think maybe 20% of people did like that idea. With the elevated trolley, it was about the opposite. I think we had about 70% of people saying, no, I like that idea of the elevated trolley. And maybe 20% saying, no, they didn't like it. And kind of some neutral responses in the middle as well. that was just based on here's an idea, what do you think, there's a lot more detailed cost benefit analysis that I think should be done.

Thank you very much for your presentation and for all the work that you did to explore this. I think it's great that we're looking into options for the future, that being said, I with that price tag, obviously. It's not something that we're going to be moving on right this second, but certainly I think it's important that the City of La Mesa and SANDAG continues to study options as funding does become available when we need to be ready to jump at it, because if we don't have ideas that have been studied, then we're not competitive, and I'm not just talking about this, but anything that the City of La Mesa does to work with Sandag and to make it easier for folks to get around and safer for folks to get around. One thing that was not brought up that I have been bringing up when folks have talked to me about their various opinions is the reason or one of the reasons that the trench or any type of undergrounding is such an issue is not just because there's a long history of lots of things going on underground in La Mesa, but also because we're on a spring. And so it creates a lot more Yeah, it could create a lot more issues than raising it above ground. You know, the idea of it being covered provides us with, you know, more opportunity to utilize that space, which is exciting, but it likely would not make sense environmentally. So really appreciate the study and thank you for really helping La Mesa be proactive instead of reactive.

Council Member Dillard.

Yes, thank you so much for the presentation. It was really good. And I really like the recommendation. I just had a question about the grants. How does that work? Does the city put in a percentage and the rest come in grants? And if so, what is the percentage that it would be on the recommendation for the city?

So the potential funding sources for future work It does vary. I think that a lot of federal programs require a 20% non-federal match. Sometimes state funds can be leveraged, so it's not that 20% would fall on La Mesa, but I would say it's very likely that there would need to be some kind of local funding identified to go after those, and it's just hard to say because the match does change based on the program, the funding program.

So, but you said grants, meaning more than one. So do each one of them have different criteria? You'd have to go by that as well. Oh, yes. Oh, my. Okay. Well, that's quite a lot. And I did want to commend you for the work because this request was over four years ago, wasn't it?

I think it was either late 2023 or early 2024. I can't recall exactly.

But Jack Hsu was still on the... Yes, that's right. So 2024? What?

Yeah, it was actually before that. It was when he was sitting as the Sandag rep. So a little before that.

About 22 is what I was thinking. But yeah, so you guys have been working with this for a while. And so I just want to thank you all for that, for doing this long amount of work. And then still, we're not even close to getting there. So thank you again for that.

Yes, thank you for taking this to its conclusion. We'll let our great grandchildren know about this. Just kidding around, but thank you very much for this because that was very informative. We appreciate it. Thank you. Next on the agenda is public comment. As a reminder, public comment will begin with remote speakers participating via Zoom, followed by speakers attending in person. If you wish to speak on the agenda item, please raise your hand in Zoom or submit a speaker card before, and you've already done that, the people in person. Once I open public comment, the opportunity to request to speak on that item will close. So I'll now start with general comment. If you wish to speak, raise your hand and zoom. Madam Clerk, do we have any remote speakers?

Mayor, there are two remote speakers with their hands raised.

Remote access is now closed. Thank you.

Peggy Walker, you should now be able to unmute yourself. You have three minutes to provide your public comment.

Thank you very much and good evening, Mayor and Council. As a public health worker and youth mentor, I witnessed the consequences of youth exposure to today's high-potency marijuana firsthand, watching alarming rates of child poisonings, cannabis hypermesis syndrome, anxiety, depression, psychosis, school failure, and addiction grow. I know firsthand of three college-age boys who died by suicide after struggling with marijuana addiction. The nonprofit I work with regularly counsels parents trying to save their kids from addiction, demonstrating the devastating toll marijuana takes on students and families. Nearly every day, I read scientific research and major media reports warning that the widespread availability of high potency pot has made getting high just too easy resulting in growing health and social harms i therefore was discouraged to read a ut article describing the mesa as a cannabis hub san diego's quote little amsterdam In my book, No Child's Life or Future is worth any amount of tax revenue. I do, however, commend the city for securing Proposition 64 funding to, quote, remediate the adverse impacts of cannabis and illicit activity on public health and safety. That suggests all's not so well regarding marijuana's high profile here in our city. where permitted pot thrives, so does the illegal market. So I came to respectfully ask the city, this council, to track and publicly report outcomes of this grant program's activities, including impact on youth exposure, youth use, related medical and social costs, illegal sales, and enforcement. This kind of transparent reporting will allow the city and the public to determine whether the program strategies are protecting young people and improving our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Madison, you should now be able to unmute yourself. You have three minutes to provide your public comments.

Thank you. Good evening, La Mesa City Council. My name is Madison and I'm a mother of three young children and a public health advocate. I'm here because youth vaping is not a harmless trend. It is a growing public health issue with real consequences for both physical and mental health. Today's e-cigarettes often contain extremely high concentrations of nicotine. During adolescence, the brain is still developing and nicotine can interfere with areas responsible for attention, learning, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Young people who become addicted often find themselves trapped in a cycle where nicotine temporarily relieves anxiety or stress, but ultimately makes those symptoms worse, leading to greater dependence. Research has also found links between youth nicotine use and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. While mental health is complex, nicotine addiction can make existing struggles more difficult and create new challenges for vulnerable teens. Communities like La Mesa have an important opportunity to put prevention first. Every vape product kept out of a child's hands is one less opportunity for lifelong addiction. Strong enforcement of tobacco retail laws, education for youth and parents, and policies that reduce youth access are investments in healthier families and a healthier community. Thank you for your commitment to protecting La Mesa's young people. I encourage you to continue supporting evidence-based efforts that prevent youth nicotine addiction and promote lifelong health. Thank you.

Thank you. Now we have in-person comments. The first one is Eric Scraby followed by Alan Sands.

Welcome. Thank you. Eric Scraby. I live on Laird Avenue. It's in between Lake Murray Boulevard and Jackson Drive, right near Aztec Park. I'm here to talk about the speeding that's going on on Laird Avenue. There's a hill that goes up, so it's basically a blind hill with a blind turn, then a straightaway. So the neighborhood was built in the 50s with 50s cars in mind and everything. So now, and then there was just to enter the neighborhood probably. So now with the invention of GPS and everything, unfortunately, a GPS will say one minute faster to cut through this neighborhood instead of just taking Jackson Drive or Lake Murray Boulevard. So it's funny. I heard you talk about Dugan, council member and vice mayor. I have two young children, so I was walking my daughter there. You should talk to the public works guys of how fast those cars were coming at them while they were actively putting in the speed bumps. It's a great program. I love it. I'm here to ask for speed bumps on Laird as well. If people start taking Laird instead of Dugan because of the speed bumps, it's going to get our problem even worse. Basically, it's that GPS that takes them through there. And so I've noticed an influx of cars just going extremely quickly, and you can tell who lives in the neighborhood and who doesn't because you can tell which cars are actually just passing straight through just based off of their mapping. So I'm here to ask you for those speed bumps that you're putting in on Dugan. I would love them for Laird Avenue as well. I just spent an extra $10,000 on fencing in my front yard just – basically to make sure that my kids are safe, to make sure that no balls bouncing in the street because the amount of parking and the hill and the blind turn, I can see people easily cruising around and something worse happening. So thank you for your time and thank you for putting the speed bumps on Dugan. And I'm here to ask you, please look into Laird Avenue as well due to that fact.

Thank you. Thank you. Alan Stans followed by William Exeter.

Councilman, La Mesa people, I'm here to say the same thing. I've been living on Laird Street for the last 30 plus years. It's impacted now with speeders going way too fast. Coming in and out of our driveways, it's really scary, and that's why I'm here. I saw these speed bumps going in on Dugan, and that's not the only place they need to go. I don't know if Laird was bypassed on that study, but it's a hot rod place. And I need to slow them down. Also, I want to make a comment that On Dugan, just before Dugan, coming from Jackson to Laird, there's a sign on the ground that says 25 miles an hour. It needs to be brightened up. It is so dulled out. I really need you to put that on your agenda and get that taken care of right away, please. That's step one. But those speed bumps, they'll make all the difference in how our families can be safe. Appreciate all your help and we'll go from there. All right, thank you. William Exeter.

Good evening. Good evening, Council. I'm here to express my interest in the vacant position of the Treasurer's position. I did run in 2022 and I expect to run again this coming November, but I realize that it's now a vacant position. So I just wanted to express my interest in that position. A little background on myself. I've lived here in La Mesa now since 2014. We bought a house in 2014. My wife and I and my daughter lives here. She goes to elementary school here at Lemon Avenue. I've been in private fiduciary services, financial services now for almost 45 years. So that includes controller of a commercial bank, controller of a savings and loan, chief executive officer for two different trust companies. So we've got plenty of background and extensive background in the financial services arena. So I'd be happy to consider that position, would be interested in that position, and also intend to run again in November. That's just kind of a quick overview and just wanted to express my position. So thank you. Thank you.

That concludes public comment. We are now on to conflict disclosure. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Did I miss you?

I didn't put my name in formally.

We need your name in formally. Okay.

David Davies.

Can you go?

It kind of goes back to their effect on Laird.

We've written it down. Yeah, got it. But I'm just going to stop you. We have a formal process. So you have to fill out a card. So we have your name. And so just to be fair, but the city manager wrote down Laird. We all have. So we're all over it.

I live on a different street in the Mesa. So I have a different concern that also is in the same kind of breath.

okay but i just have to stop you just to be fair to everybody else that fell out of card okay um moving on to board and commission appointments um we heard all of the applicants and um oh do we have um public comment for mayor there are no hands raised for remote public comment on consent thank you i I'm on board and commission appointments. I'm not on consent yet.

There are no hands raised.

Okay. So we heard lots of good applicants. I have some names that came back. as we heard from people, so I'm gonna just go through it. Personnel Appeals Board, Primus Slatterly, Cesar Tonal, Parks, oops, sorry, Mobility Commission, Ryan Kelly, Mission Trails Park Citizens Advisory, David Harris as the second alternate, Nancy Clement Hillman as a primary, and Kevin Kitchen as the first alternate. La Mesa Community Parking Commission, Scott Favaro and Ryan Umhauer. Historic Preservation, David Klein and Kurt Sherman. Environmental Sustainability, Janine Strauch. Design Review Board, Chris Langdon. Community Relations and Veterans Commission, Glenna Bloman. Did I miss one? Oh, that's community. I'm sorry. That's park and rec. So that's right there. But that should be Park and Rec, by the way. OK. So I haven't done that yet. Yeah. That's OK. Thank you. Andrea Brittlin and Ana Gonzalez-Seda. And Arts and Commission Culture, Joanne Bray, Heidi Frampton, and Brett Wagner. And so that's the motion for those.

Second.

It's okay. I'm glad.

Motion carries with all voters, or with all council members voting yes.

Just to clarify, we try to get new people, so we try to turn these over, and so we try to get new people on the commissions because we don't want to discourage people that are trying. So where I'm now to, it says on your nomination, it's a park and records, community services, former community services. So I'll let the city clerk explain.

Thank you, Mayor. I apologize. I forgot to update the name on those ballots. But it is Parks and Rec Commission. And those interviews were also conducted during the annual boards and commission interview at the last meeting on July 14. So this evening, the council is being asked to appoint two members to the Parks and Recreation Commission, including one representative nominated by the Grossmont Union High School District. The Grossmont Union High School District has nominated Alicia Spivey as its representative. And the nomination forms have been placed before you. There are nine applicants listed. In addition to Alicia Spivey, you may select one applicant to fill the remaining vacancy. Please indicate your nomination on the white ballot. And once completed, pass it to me and I'll read the nominations aloud. And the process will continue until a nominee receives the majority of the council vote.

Quick question. I think there are names on here that we just appointed to another commission. Could you confirm that, Mayor? I would just rather add people who aren't on a commission already.

Copy that. Sorry. Thank you. I'm going to have to do some cross-referencing real quick.

I know.

Sorry. Let's see. So Anna Gonzalez has been appointed. Jeananne Stronach has been appointed.

I thought you may have said Cesar Tornell.

I'm looking right now. Cesar, yes, has. Purina Slattery has. And Ryan Kelly has. And that's it. There you go.

Council Member Dillard has nominated Alicia Spivey and Dallin Young. Council Member Lothian has nominated Alicia Spivey and Jesse Brown. Council Member Suzuki has nominated Alicia Spivey and Dallin Young. Vice Mayor Cazares has nominated Alicia Spivey and Dallin Young. And Mayor Arepstatis has nominated Alicia Spivey and Jesse Brown. That makes Alicia Spivey and Dallin Young both having a majority of the council.

I'll make a motion.

Second.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Public comment on consent. I'm going to open for remote.

Mayor, there are no hands raised for public comment on consent.

We don't have any, so I will ask council what consent items you'd like pulled.

Mr. Mayor? Yes. I am going to pull 10.4 for comments. For comments, 10.6 for questions and a separate vote, and 10.7 for two questions.

10.7. Okay, so I'll start with 10.4.

All right. Okay, so 10.4 is the new apartment building that's being built on Allison and Palm. And this new apartment building is going to have 114 apartments, 158 bedrooms, and 72 parking spaces. So under La Mesa's own code, this building, it should be 2.4 parking spaces per bedroom. So it should have had 274 spaces. But because of AB 2097, it overrides it. And now that building's about 200 parking spaces short. It's going up directly across the street from another transit-oriented project that is 125 spaces short. I think the city of La Mesa is gonna have to absorb 300 additional, 327 additional cars, and residents are gonna have a harder time finding parking near their homes. Businesses are worried that customers might give up going to their business if it's too frustrating to park. So I'm not making these comments to upset people. It is what it is, but I am making these comments to emphasize how critically important it is for the staff and the parking commission, which I know they're studying right now. Our suggestions, Vice Mayor Cazares and I made suggestions a month ago on how to create parking out of thin air. So we figured if everything was implemented, it could be 50 to 100 additional spaces, which will be critical, and without any additional infrastructure. It includes eliminating unnecessary red and white curbs, adding parking tees to every single street in the greater downtown area, converting wasted small spaces too small for cars, for golf cart and motorcycle parking, and reconfiguring existing parking lots to maximize parking spaces. It's an urgent problem and we need to get ahead of it. I also want to make one last point. I have heard from so many people that they're very disappointed, especially we just had a presentation about the trolley. They're disappointed in the generic box stack look of it. These apartment buildings look like they belong in Mission Valley or Mira Mesa. Even staunch housing advocates that I've been talking to are like, we support housing, we want these apartments, but they have to blend with the city of La Mesa. The character, I mean, our village is 115 years old, 114 years old, and the new construction is simply not complimenting it. It's actually crushing it. So that's just my comments. I don't want to separate it for a vote. And then 10.6.

Mike, can I make a comment on that, please? Sure.

I'd like to ask the city manager Just to, because Council Member Lothian brought this up, why didn't this go through the normal process, not normal, but the typical process for development where it goes through the Planning Commission and then we get to vote on it instead of ratifying the DRB, the Design Review Board, which many cities don't have a Design Review Board. Why is this, we're not allowed to vote on this to pass-fail? I'm to the path to the city attorney.

Thanks. That's a process that's in place is the ratification of the design review board's action. If you're going to change that, you can't change it tonight. But that's what's in place for the council to consider.

But let me ask you, what if we were one of the cities that didn't have a design review board? Would this have even come before us?

Well, under the current law, you have to have some form of a design review board in place.

So the cities that don't have one?

I don't know of cities that don't have one. All right. Okay.

So where I'm going with this is the law that Council Member Lothian stated, and to parse that out, because of the state law, this didn't go through what we'd consider a typical process.

Well, the typical process is what's defined in the municipal code and any policies that are in place. So what's typical is what we deal with customarily.

So why don't they have to adhere to the parking requirements based on what the city normally requires?

Well, the question that's before the council tonight is whether the design review board properly consider the two aspects of the design that are in place and that's the urban design program and the downtown village specific plan and that board determined that the intent of the requirements of both of those boards were met or not boards with both of the both of the program and the specific i guess let me just get let me just ask you yes or no question can we vote to deny this program this this You can certainly vote to not ratify the design review board's determination. I wouldn't recommend it unless you had a good sound reasoning upon which to rely. And the design review board, the experts that are in place to review this have told you that the intent of both that urban design program and the downtown village specific plan have been met. So I'm just going to echo what you said.

You're right. Due to density bonus, this went to DRB as opposed to going through planning commission and that we have an up or down vote on this flat out. And because of the state law and because of density bonus, people are able to forego what we have in our municipal code regarding building. I'm just echoing what you're saying just to make, I know you said it, I keep saying it over and over again to try to educate people because you're right, it's a frustrating thing. Yes.

I have a question for Ms. Santos. So when I was reviewing this project, Am I correct that they actually included more parking spaces than they are required to using the various bonuses and waivers? Is that correct?

Well, correct, because there is no minimum parking requirement on this project because of its proximity to the trolley.

That's what I thought. So thank you. I wanted to I wanted to just flag that to make folks aware that they are going beyond any minimum, which there is not requirement and also appreciate that. While this is certainly a change for the village, I think that mixed use makes a whole lot more sense than it just being housing. And so I look forward to welcoming the businesses that will will take over the base of that building.

Thank you, I just wanted to clarify that because when people ask me, I say this is the law and just not to go backwards in time, but there's been times that we have not ratified the DRB and we were immediately contacted by the state.

I know that.

You were probably watching those meetings, right? Yeah, exactly.

I know. It's like barking up the wrong tree. Right. So I'm not justifying it.

I'm just reiterating because I think it's important, and I'm not trying to hide behind anything, but I'm just stating what the law is.

Yeah, I was just bringing up that it's a two-fold opposition. One of them is the parking, and then the other one is it just doesn't look like the village. It looks like Mission Valley or Mira Mesa. So that's it. I'm just making commentary. I'm not changing anything.

I understand. No, okay. 10.6?

Okay, this is a series of questions. I don't know who to ask. This is about the La Mesa Electric Vehicle Charging Station Master Plan.

I'm going to have you ask Ms. Lee, Ms. Lee.

Amanda, hi, honey. Okay. All right. So these are the questions. I sent them to you ahead of time, so I hope that you have some answers. I sent them this morning. I don't know if you saw.

Yes.

Okay, great. Okay, terrific. Okay, so this was before I was on the City Council, but I'd like to know the cost of the consultants, Kittleson and Associates, to develop this electric vehicle charging station master plan.

$99,665. Okay.

It's about 100K.

Okay, and that was a La Mesa expense? It comes out of the environmental services budget. It's funded by the environmental professionals specialized services operating budget. So it's not part of the general fund. They get specialized fees, but yes, it is city of La Mesa.

Okay. And then of the five locations identified as high potential EV parking spaces, three are in downtown La Mesa, where we've been hearing now for a couple of years that parking scarcity is a known problem and it's a growing problem. So how many downtown spaces would be dedicated to EV parking?

Well, that's to be determined. These are just proposed locations. and recommendations, it's not a formal plan at this particular time.

It was so many pages and I was looking for, so they don't say six spaces here, eight spaces here, two spaces here, nothing like that?

It doesn't formalize it at this time. Again, this is just a master plan, which can be, that just gives us a footprint for us to be able to apply for grants in the future.

Okay. And then would these spaces be exclusively for EVs, meaning another car can't, it has to be an EV parking in that spot. You can't just show up in your station wagon.

No, other vehicles are allowed to park there. They are? Yes, we do not have an ordinance that restricts non-EV vehicles from parking there.

Is that right? Okay, so if I see a charging thing and it's empty and everything's full, I can pull into it without charging my car? Vehicle and park there.

That is correct. That's correct, and you will not be cited.

No citation, no tows. Okay, I did not know that. That's fantastic. Okay, I love that. And then, this is my last question. The yellow zone, okay, you know how you can park after 6 p.m. at a yellow zone between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.? Same thing with these EV charging things. Is it one of those things where You park free after 6 p.m. like a, you could treat it like a yellow zone.

Yeah, EV charging stations will not be put into commercial loading zones. No meter?

Okay, but, no, no, I'm not thinking, I know they won't be doing that. What I'm saying is our meters stop at six. So those EV charging stations, or parking spaces, are they gonna have meters, or can people just park there overnight starting at six o'clock?

They'll be treated as all other.

Just like the other spots. Exactly. Okay, okay, so then, this is my, this is the reason I want it for a separate vote. Okay, so,

Can we vote on the others first? Sure, of course.

Mr. Mayor, you're the boss.

Obviously, you haven't been paying attention to the meetings. No, I'm just kidding. So I'm going to ask for a vote on 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-5, 10-6, 10-8, 10. No, not 10-6. Sorry. We did 10.6, sorry. 10.8 and 10.9. Did I get that right? Thank you, thank you, 10.7, because you want a separate vote on 10.7, correct?

No, I do not, just 10.6.

Oh, pardon me. Okay. Oh, so, sorry, you want a separate vote on that. I'm sorry, so go ahead and do 10.7. I apologize, I thought I flagged the wrong one for you.

Oh, so ask the question?

Go ahead and ask the question, I apologize.

Oh, okay, so 10.7 question, it's for Ms. Hillary, is she here? I'll be able to answer, okay. The question I had was, so the last Climate Action Plan annual report, there was a statistic in there that said that vehicle volume overall in La Mesa had decreased 39% year over year. That didn't match what we were observing on the ground. I'm going through this climate action plan annual report, not seeing that statistic anymore, but I did see under traffic data and transportation trends, there was some numbers, but there was no percentages. So the question I have for the CAP people is, can you advise the council and public of the percentage increase or decrease in vehicle volume in La Mesa year over year? So last year it was down 39%, which it wasn't.

And then what is it now? There's two different numbers. On the weekdays, it's an increase of 2%. And on the weekends, it's a decrease of 2%. Okay.

Interesting.

Okay. And then last question, is their budget still approximately $1 million a year?

Their budget has not changed. Okay. Thank you.

So let's then approve everything but 10.6. That's my motion. Pardon me.

I accidentally put it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for seconding.

Welcome to the council.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Okay. 10.6 now. I asked the questions, but now this is the point I want to make and the motion I want to make. So the point I wanted to make was... Of automakers, there's an electronic vehicle retreat happening right now. And what I read today was the industry-wide, the total in write-downs is somewhere between $55 billion and $70 billion. One analyst called the EV reversal the single biggest capital allocation mistake in the history of the automotive industry and predicted at least $100 billion in write-downs. i also read and believe that california's 2035 zero mission car mandate is most likely not going to happen so i don't know if it's in the best interest right now to to approve this master plan uh when in the best interest of the residents visitors and businesses because it will restrict more parking and I think it would be prudent to postpone implementing the master plan until we you know until we see real numbers we've got two huge apartment buildings coming in we have no idea what the parking impact is going to be so the motion I would make and I can make it right now is I would move to postpone consideration of item 10.6 the resolution adopting the City of La Mesa Electric Vehicle Charging Station Master Plan until the two transit-oriented apartment developments are completed and occupied, and staff has had the opportunity to study the impact of those residents on parking demand. So it would be just a delay.

A motion. Is there a second on the motion?

I'm sure not.

OK. So the motion fails due to a lack of second.

That's it. I want to address a couple of things that were brought up in that motion. There certainly has been a retreat in terms of electrical vehicles and the 2035 mandate, I think, will very likely get moved back. However, I think it's really important to highlight that there are quite a few electric vehicles on our roads already. I know because my household has one and also these I mean, there are Teslas everywhere in the city of La Mesa, and I think that is going to continue, especially given that there are rebate programs and whatnot that often make electric vehicles more affordable options for families. And with everything going on in the Middle East, gas continuing to be very expensive. But additionally, I don't know if anyone has actually checked out what kind of electric vehicle parking there is in the city of La Mesa, but it's extremely limited i know this because there's an ev in my household and one of the only locations that you can do it is actually in the denizen apartment buildings by bamboo sushi and brewsters and there's only i think 11 or 12 spots beauty center I said one of the only, yeah, one of the only. And those are rapid chargers, and the community center has standard chargers, which take a really long time and leave cars in them. But when they're rapid chargers, you can get your car fully charged in 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the vehicle that you have. And actually, EV charging spots, the EV chargers charge you more if you leave your car for longer than it takes to charge. You get charged additional fees on top of it. So it actually promotes more turnover in those parking spots rather than just like leaving it there all day or all night. And as we heard, it won't be restricting parking because as we currently have our ordinances, anyone would be able to park in them. So I think that's an opportunity that we would be leaving money on the table and progress, letting other cities have that progress. Additionally, with EV charging, there is absolutely an opportunity for the city of La Mesa to make some money off of it, depending on how we implement it. And that can be used directly to build a parking structure, which we hope to do.

That would be great. As soon as I found out that regular cars could, I thought we were just even losing more parking. Totally. I did not know that. That was good news. Very good news.

I completely understand, but I just wanted to, as someone who has an EV in my household, I thought it was important to talk about it and how I think it's very important that we are adding these facilities. And, you know, this is, it's not a proposal for us to be spending money. It's a proposal for us to be bringing money into the city and providing opportunities. And on top of that, it is good for the environment. So in that case, I would like to make a motion to approve item 10.6. And I think we have comments. Second.

And so we're going to ask for, oh, no, we are, no, because it's on the consent we already asked for. You mean for public comment?

No, no, no. I thought Jen had a comment.

I apologize. Let's have a quick one.

I'll just real quick.

Sorry, I apologize. I thought you meant that way.

I didn't, but you know what? I will say it. I just, I don't have, I wish I had an EV car because I have a hybrid and I just filled my car up and it cost me $63. And that's a huge cost to a lot of our residents who don't make enough money to cover those kind of costs every day. So we really need to put this infrastructure in ASAP because I agree with Vice Mayor. I'd rather be ahead of, I don't even think we're ahead. I think we're just right on time if not a little behind. Infrastructure needs to meet the demand. And I agree. with Council Member Lothian in that knowing that the parking places are still gonna be devoted to, I mean, you can still use a parking space is helpful, but I think this is a fantastic move on our city's part.

Is there a second to your motion? Yes, she seconded it. Sorry, thank you.

I know, it's been a while. We first started on the consent calendar back in the early 50s. You're all gonna miss me.

Motion passes with all council members voting yes.

I hope so.

Okay. It has nothing to do with that. Number 11, a staff report, consideration of a grant application for the San Diego Sand Ag Fleet Pilot Program.

I will take that one.

All right, you're on. Wow, you dipped right in.

Thank you, and I think there's a PowerPoint. Thank you, Katie. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Tonight's presentation is to consider an application for SANDAG's Flexible Fleets Pilot Grant, funding that would launch a pilot on-demand mobility service tailored to La Mesa needs. SANDAG designed this grant specifically to help cities pilot innovative transportation models such as microtransit, on-demand shuttles, neighborhood electric vehicles, and other flexible fleets. For La Mesa, this is a chance to test a service that fills real gaps in our existing transportation system. We hear from residents, especially older adults, people with mobility challenges, and those living farther from transit who struggle with short but essential trips, medical appointments, grocery stores, community centers, and connections to the trolley. This grant gives us the ability to respond thoughtfully to those needs with a service that is more flexible than traditional transit and more accessible than private rideshare options.

Next slide, please.

The proposed pilot aligns with several major city council priorities. It strengthens quality of life by giving residents more reliable ways to get health care, employment, shopping, and community services. It advances our climate action plan by encouraging shared electric trips rather than single occupancy vehicle travels. And it furthers our commitment to infrastructure investments that improve mobility and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Just as importantly, the program allows us to leverage about $859,000 in regional funding. Next slide. The pilot program proposes a small fleet of three electric vehicles, including one ADA accessible vehicle. This would operate five, I think we're on the next slide, I'm sorry, I just looked up, thank you. This would operate five days a week for 10 hours per day and would be available through mobile app or simple phone call. We deliberately designed this model to be small and manageable, something we can learn from, evaluate, and refine over a two-year period without committing to long-term operational costs upfront. The two year cost is next slide. Please. The two year cost is estimated at $970,731 with Sanda covering 88% of the cost. The city's math is just 11.47 or 111,343. This is a typical match for these types of grants. If the grant is awarded, next slide please. If the grant is awarded, our next steps would include issuing a request for proposals to select a qualified transportation operator. This ensures we have experienced professionals managing vehicles, drivers, dispatch systems, customer service, and daily operations while the city maintains oversight. Throughout the two-year period, we would gather detailed performance data, ridership trip purpose, customer satisfaction, transit connections, cost effectiveness, and overall use. At the end of the pilot, we will return to council with a full evaluation and options for what the future looks like. Before I go on to staff recommendation, I did notice I failed to mention that the priority for this project is seniors. And that was based on old programs that we had previously. We did a Ride for Neighbors program. And also throughout the county, a lot of programs are focused on seniors. So with that being said, tonight staff does recommend authorizing submission of a grant application, approving the city's match of $111,343, and authorizing the city manager to execute the necessary documents. I'm available to answer any questions.

Is there time for questions about the program?

Are there any hands raised on this item?

We do have one hand raised.

Thank you. It's now closed to raise hands. The time to raise hands is closed.

Becky Rapp, you should be able to unmute yourself, and you have three minutes.

I'm sorry, my hand, I think there's a confusion. I wanted to speak in non-agenda public comment and my hand was put down and then it was put back up. And anyway.

Your hand was raised after it had closed. Okay.

So I do not want to speak to this item. Thank you.

Thank you.

Council member Dillard.

Thank you chair. Of course, thank you, Assistant City Manager, for bringing this forth. My colleagues know I've been working on this and trying to make sure that we could qualify for this grant. And I just wanted to add a couple of items to make sure that we all understand what could happen here in this city. The older generation is chosen because we have to start somewhere. So obviously we're not gonna be able to go everywhere in the region, but it will cover a great part of our region. And we have over 9,500 residents in the city of La Mesa that are 65 and older. And with that, it'll be easier for them to ride for a very inexpensive cost. It's very cheap. They'll be able to make their doctor's appointments. We have two hospitals, by the way. They'll be able to go to Grossmont Shopping Center. They'll be able to go to The Village and other restaurants and shops. You know, they'll be able to get around without worrying about depending on others to come and pick them up, especially when they have to go to the doctors or get their prescriptions. And we think that it'll make things easier for them. And it's also a mental health issue as well. Instead of them being shut out, they'll be able to order service. They will pick them up at their present location and drop them off where they want to go within our city. So I think that that's one big deal. The other thing is that if we are successful with this group, we will move on to children 13 and older if we're able to get this to catch on. And I also want to remind residents that This generation will also be able to get a free ride to any bus stop or trolley platform. So if they need to take public transportation outside of the city of La Mesa, they'll be able to do that. And while we, I wanted to talk a little bit about sustainability and just in short, we have a lot of our, what I call anchor tenants, and those are the larger owners of organizations here in La Mesa, like Sharp Grossmont Hospital, Kaiser Grossmont Shopping Center, and the Chamber of Commerce, and others. including the village. The village has also endorsed this project and are excited to be able to know that people will be able to come without worrying about the challenges that we've been discussing all evening about parking. So I think with those ideas, and also by the way, The reason why we would be able to service children 13 and older is because all the staff will be W-2'd. So it's not like using an Uber or Lyft where you're not allowed to order service if you're number one, not 18 years or older. And so that would eliminate that issue. And having a W-2'd person driving the members of our community around would allow people to get to know them because they would be regular employees that they would see all the time when they want to utilize the service. So that's all I wanted to include with that. It's been a situation where we've had a lot of business support, the larger organizations definitely coming through on this.

There's one more question by Vice Mayor Casares before you offer a motion.

I just wanted to, okay.

Yeah, sorry, before you go to the motion. Okay.

Thank you. I had a question come up actually while you were speaking. Is there anything in this grant application? And I don't know how prescriptive it is, so there may not be. This may be after we hopefully get it to ensure that we don't have like the same 15 people that are relying on this all the time so that it's not servicing others. The reason that I bring up that concern is that I've heard from our fire department, for example, that a lot of the senior homes that we have in the city unfortunately are using like EMS as almost like an Uber for non-emergency situations. And I think that that's what this is trying to do, but I don't necessarily want us to be subsidizing like 10 people versus the hundreds of folks who should be eligible to use this program.

No, it will not cap how many rides a rider can get. It also will not be a free program. The only time it is free is to MTS. The cost of per ride will really depend on the provider that is selected. But it is low cost. It's way cheaper than a ride share. But that cost per trip can depend. It could be $2. It could be $5. And it just really depends on Sandag has two different providers, VN Circuit, so we'd have to determine those costs with them.

Okay, that makes sense. And then if we do expand it to younger ages, I have other potential concerns with that, but in general, I want to thank you for, you've been working on this since before we were on the council, because I know once we were on the council, we couldn't talk about it because of Brown Act, but we got to talk about it before I was on the council, and I know you've been working very hard on this, so thank you.

Thank you. And I also wanted to add that the vendor that we do pick, they'll also be providing constant data to us so that we're able to track where we're successful and where we're not. And so the service could move around based on higher performance in other areas. And we won't know that until we get that data. And then also, too, that'll help give us feedback to our anchor tenants as well, because hopefully I'll be able to work with them to help contribute to this service. because they're benefiting from it. They're getting to their appointments on time, et cetera. So just want to throw that out as well. There's a lot to consider here. I understand that, but I think that it's a way for us to solve a big part of our parking issue, especially with people that are just coming to utilize our services that we have here in La Mesa. So, oh, you have a question?

I have a question for Amanda. Amanda, a couple more questions. Is this program initially for people 65 and older?

We haven't identified the age, but yeah, it's our senior population, and whether that's 55, 62, or 65 is still to be determined.

But at the present time, a 34-year-old is not going to be able to use it?

We're really focusing more on the senior population.

Okay, and will it be app only?

No, there'll also be a phone number as well to help for accessibility.

Okay, and then if you're riding to a trolley or a bus stop, it's free, but if you're going to lunch or something like that, there'll be a nominal charge.

Yeah, and that's per the grant application. The grant requires any MTS stop to be free.

Okay, I understand that. It's the microtransit. And is it only within La Mesa boundaries? You can't take it to go to Lemon Grove or Spring Valley or anything like that?

Yeah, and it's actually, if we go back, I think it's two slides or one slide. Katie, I'm sorry, if I, another one, one more. There it is. This is actually the service area. So it doesn't include all of La Mesa as well because that would be more costly. So really this is, it's hitting the Sharp, it's hitting Grossmont, it is hitting some of those senior facilities that Vice Mayor was discussing. So it's trying to hit some core areas as well.

Okay, thank you.

So with that, I'd like to make a motion for us to accept the consideration of the grant application for the San Diego or Sandag Flexible Fleets Pilot Grant Program.

Second.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Thank you. We are on to item 11.2. We're going to determine the process for filling the vacancy that would exist of the office of the city treasurer. I'm going to hand this over to Ms. Weigelman.

Honorable Mayor and Council, the City Treasurer has submitted a notice of resignation effective August 12th of this year, which will create a vacancy in the office starting on that date. And under state law, the City Council must fill the vacancy by appointment or call a special election within 60 days of that vacancy. If the council chooses the appointment process, the city clerk's office will accept applications, conduct the required public noticing, and schedule applicant interviews at a public hearing. The anticipated date for interviews and a possible appointment would be scheduled potentially for the September 8th council meeting with the option to continue the appointment to the September 22nd if needed. Yes. Staff also recommends authorizing the city manager to execute documents on behalf of the city treasurer during that vacancy period. So the recommendation before the council is to direct staff to either implement an appointment or a special election process to fill the vacancy and authorize the city manager to execute documents on behalf of the city treasurer during the vacancy period.

Thank you. I'm just going to make a comment because I usually don't. I'm just going to let the council know that I'm in favor of an appointment considering how much a special election costs and considering how close we are to November. Council Member Dillard and then Vice Mayor Torres.

I just also, well... wanted to accept the recommendation. I'm all about the path of least resistance. In this particular case, I think this is the easiest way to resolve this and get the information out to the public that it's available, since I don't think too many people even know that this position is open at this point. So that's what I have to say, and I have to make a motion now.

Well, yeah. Vice Mayor Casares, after everyone talks, yep.

Sure. I agree with the both of you. I have a feeling we're all in agreement. This close to the election, we're less than 100 days out. We have 60 days to do this. So in theory, we're going to have someone for 40 days. In theory, I guess there's, you know, we get swearing in in December and whatnot. But it would be a gigantic waste of taxpayer money to do anything but um do an appointment to this vacancy it's also not a vote on the city council so this is i hope will remain unpoliticized um i know that the election itself could become um politicized but um i am absolutely in support and i there is no way i would support um a special election but i also want to use my time to just congratulate our our city treasurer matt tribone he has accepted a role as a council for nato so really big deal um and very exciting for la mesa although we are losing him i've uh asked if there are any hands raised on this item

Mayor, there are no hands raised for this item.

Thank you. You said you would like to make a motion. Staff recommendation to approve the, yes, I got you.

So to confirm, we're selecting the appointment process, right?

Not a special election, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

And the mayor, was that, were you seconding it?

Oh, I apologize.

No, that the microphones weren't on. Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Item 12 is a hearing. And I don't know who's Ms. Santos. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening again. For your consideration this evening is an annexation request. The city received a request to annex into the city for the connection to the city sanitary system. Annexations require approval of a change of organization by the local agency formation commission or LAFCO which would amend the city sphere of influence to include only the subject properties. This would be consistent with the jurisdictional boundary change. For an annexation request to proceed, the property must be assigned a City of La Mesa land use designation through a general plan amendment and a City of La Mesa zoning designation must also be assigned. Upon annexation, the subject properties would detach from the Sam McGill Consolidated Fire Protection District, transferring service to Heartland Fire and Rescue. Heartland Fire and Rescue has confirmed the ability to serve these properties and has no objections. The three parcels total approximately 1.86 acres in the unincorporated county adjacent to the city of La Mesa boundary. The parcels take access from La Cruz Drive, a public street in the city of La Mesa via La Perla Way, a private road in the unincorporated county. Two of the parcels are developed with single family residences, 4821 and 4841 La Perla Way. The third parcel is developed with a vineyard and accessory structures. Surrounding development consists primarily of single family residents on one half to one acre hillside lots. Upon annexation, the annexing property becomes a part of the City of La Mesa land use authority, and the land use designation changes to correspond to the city's general plan land use. The rural residential land use designation in the city's general plan is assigned to large lot residential estate development in the Grosmont Mount Helix area. Development can occur at densities of between one and two dwelling units per acre in this area. Rural characteristics and natural terrain are to be preserved through utilization of grading practices which create natural appearing landforms. The size of the three individual parcels within the project area falls within the one to two unit per acre range for density and also the location of the project site is on the west slope of Mount Helix and is surrounded by similarly sized and moderately to steep slope parcels. The zoning classification that corresponds best and is compatible with the rural residential land use and with the surrounding hillside topography of Mount Helix is R1EP, which is the semi-rural estate scenic preservation overlay. In the R1EP zone development is expected to occur at densities of one to two dwelling units per acre predicated upon adequate streets, sewer, fire hydrant and other public facilities which this area has. Environmental review was conducted for this project. It does meet section 15319 for exemptions of annexations of existing facilities and lots. In addition, a common sense exemption applies. As a general rule, CEQA does not apply where there is no potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. As required by state law, the city formally notified designated tribal representatives about this project. The Planning Commission recommended that the Council adopt a resolution requesting that LAFCO initiate the proceedings for the reorganization of territory. Also to adopt a resolution approving a general plan amendment assigning the properties a land use designation of rural residential and approve the introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending the zoning map to designate the properties R1EP. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Yes. Any questions?

Is there any downside to annexing this?

Not at all.

I'd like to annex all of Mount Helix.

No, there's not. I'm going to ask if there's any hands raised.

Mayor, there are no hands raised for this item.

Then I'm going to make a motion to close the hearing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Public speakers, I apologize, 12-1. I apologize, Mr. Hallgren. Guy Hallgren, followed by Matthew Hallgren, I apologize. Thank you.

Good evening.

Nice to see you all.

And I want to thank Ms. Santos, and I really want to thank Alison Kennard, who's helped me through this, helped us through it since the fall of 2022. And it wasn't her delay that did this. It was working with a rookie, but we figured it out, and we've got this far, so I want to thank her for her patience on this. I'm not, you know, I'm a lawyer retired, so I learned that when you're ahead, you shut up, but I do wanted to say that we love La Mesa. My wife and I are both fourth-generation La Masons, and my son Matthew is now fifth-generation La Mason, so we really look forward to having our properties in your great city. Thank you.

Thank you. Matthew Hallgren.

I'll just echo what he said. I put my name in in case there were any questions. It seems like there aren't any. So thank you for your consideration.

All right, thank you. Sorry, moved a little too quick. So now I'll make a motion to approve staff recommendation.

Second.

We're going to have to read the ordinance. Sorry.

We need to also close the hearing.

We just did.

But we didn't close. No.

We didn't vote.

No, we didn't finish that vote. I canceled the vote. Copy that. All right. So let's vote first. This is for close the hearing. Council Member Lothian, if you could vote.

You don't want to close the hearing? No, that's okay.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

I'll ask the city attorney to read the ordinance.

The resolutions are tied together so that can be one action. Here's how the ordinance reads. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of La Mesa amending the zoning map of Title 24 of the La Mesa Municipal Code to designate properties addressed as 4821 4831 and 4841 La Perla Way. I'm not going to read the parcel numbers. They're in there for the record. Semi-rural estate slash scenic preservation overlay R1E-P.

Thank you. Now I'll make a motion to accept staff recommendation to include this lovely property into the city of Mesa.

And I will second.

And of course, that's the action on the resolutions first. We're all through, yep. With a fine swimming pool.

I have been there.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Hard to believe they're a former PPJT family. I know, right? Thank you very much.

We need to do the ordinance, vote on the ordinance still.

Okay, so I thought I just... No, that was just for resolutions.

The ordinance has to be a separate vote.

Copy that. I'll make an ordinance. I'll move to accept the ordinance.

And I'll second.

Do we have to do each ordinance? I mean, each of the subsections? Then we can do it all together. All right, thank you.

Mayor? Mayor? Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Item 13-1, good seeing you both. Consideration of request to direct staff to prepare an ordinance to modify the city's cannabis business tax rate. I will let the vice mayor speak on this.

Thank you. So we're bringing forward this item because the city of La Mesa's financial stability is incredibly important. Unlike many cities, most cities in our region, La Mesa has managed to stay out of the red thus far. However, like cities across California and San Diego County in particular, We're facing a challenging fiscal environment. Sales tax revenues have not kept pace with expectations while the costs of providing essential public services continue to rise. We're proposing a 1% adjustment to provide an opportunity to diversify city revenues and help us continue investing in public safety, infrastructure, parks, and day-to-day services that make La Mesa such a great place to live. I strongly believe that a modest adjustment to our cannabis business tax is important because it represents a thoughtful way to strengthen the city's financial stability without asking La Mesa residents to pay higher general sales tax or property taxes. This proposal also preserves La Mesa's highly competitive position. That's why we are requesting that the council direct staff to put together a plan to raise the cannabis sales tax from 4% to 5%. A simple 1% increase that will bring in over $750,000 or more in additional revenue into La Mesa as we ensure our firefighters and police officers have competitive salaries and benefits. At 5%, our local cannabis business tax would still be half, yes, half of the city of San Diego's 10% tax rate and tied for lowest among incorporated cities in our immediate region that permit cannabis retail. In fact, no incorporated city in San Diego County currently has a cannabis business tax below our existing 4% rate or even at that rate. Even with the increase, La Mesa will remain one of the lowest and most competitively taxed cities in the region. We've all seen the recent reports about consumers choosing to shop in La Mesa because our cannabis prices remained significantly lower than neighboring jurisdictions, and I believe that competitive advantage will continue. I also want to recognize our licensed cannabis operators. They have been excellent community partners and have demonstrated that well-regulated dispensaries can absolutely operate responsibly. Their required onsite professional security has helped create businesses that are safe, well-managed, and respectful of surrounding neighborhoods. Our experience has shown that these facilities can coexist successfully within our community while generating important local revenue. At the end of the day, this is all about balance. Every dollar of locally generated revenue helps reduce pressure for future discussions about broader taxes that would directly impact La Mesa households. This approach, I believe, will also allow the cost of local government to be supported by a regional customer base that chooses to shop at La Mesa rather than placing the burden solely on our residents. The city of San Diego actually is trying to prevent folks from being able to order cannabis from outside the city of San Diego because they want the sales tax. So I think that it will ensure that we can continue to provide high quality services our community expects, keep our city financially strong, and also continue to be a good partner to the dispensaries that have been a good partner to our city.

Obviously, I support this because I co-sponsored this, so any comments or questions?

Just really quick. I support this. I think this is a great idea in addressing our financial health and making sure that it continues to be a healthy reality for us. And I think it's actually great to bring the cannabis business into this just because if they're good neighbors, I think that that is also a good reason to support them. So thank you. All right. Would you like to do it?

Sure.

I will make... Oh, sorry. Thank you very much. Thanks for reminding me. Hands raised.

Mayor, we have one remote speaker with their hand raised. Becky Rapp, you should now be able to unmute yourself. You have three minutes to provide your public comments.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Becky Rapp and I appreciate you bringing this item forward. I encourage you to support it. And I do believe that raising the cannabis business tax is a good idea. Unlike alcohol and tobacco, its sale can create extra public health costs that extend beyond the business that profit from it. um these costs include public safety code enforcement youth prevention programs public education and behavioral health services it is reasonable that the industry help pay for those impacts through an appropriate business tax Increasing this tax can provide revenue that could be dedicated funding for programs that benefit our entire community. These funds can support law enforcement efforts to combat illegal cannabis market, which we know is a continuing concern. Illegal sales do not pay their fair taxes. This would be a great way to push back on that and on public safety. Cannabis tax revenue should also be invested in educating residents, especially young people about the potential risks of cannabis use. There is An undeniable amount of scientific research indicating that frequent use during adolescence is associated with adverse effects of learning, memory, attention, and brain development. And many increase the risk of certain mental health problems in young people. So providing this evidence-based education and prevention program, it is a responsible investment that can reduce long-term social and public health costs. So I encourage you to please increase this business tax. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm going to make a motion, but first I want to be clear that me bringing this forward is actually not in opposition to cannabis sales in the city. I have been very open about the fact that I am supportive of these dispensaries and of legal and safe cannabis use by folks over the age of 21.

Now that I've said that, I'm going to make a motion to approve the item.

I second.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Item 13-2 is a consideration request to direct staff to evaluate installation of a no right turn red restriction at the southwest corner of the intersection of Lake Murray Boulevard and El Paso. Vice Mayor Casares.

Thank you. This one I will be more brief on. Back in November 2025, La Mesa resident Megan Webb started a change.org petition that has gathered more than 286 signatures calling for improved pedestrian safety at the intersection of El Paso Street and Lake Murray Boulevard. near Murray Manor Elementary School. I reached out to Ms. Webb shortly after the petition was created and in December we met on site to discuss potential solutions including both an activated and a standard no write on red signage. Those concerns were shared directly with our city manager and they have been under review since December. This intersection is especially meaningful to me because I grew up on El Paso Street and attended Murray Manor Elementary School. And I know firsthand how many students and families rely on this crossing every day. No parent should have to experience the fear of watching their child or themselves nearly be struck while walking to school. And with Murray Manor welcoming students back next week, I think it deserves our prompt attention because families should be able to be focused on the excitement of a new school year, not worrying about crossing the street safely. So I want to just thank and appreciate Ms. Megan Webb for her advocacy and the residents who have spoken up about this issue.

Are there any public speakers, hands raised?

Mayor, there are no hands raised for this item.

Thank you. I will let you make the motion on this too. Or I won't let you, but please make the motion.

Thank you. I will make a motion to approve item 13.2. Thank you.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Council Committee Reports, Council Member Dillard.

Yes, I just wanted to report on the huge success that we had this past weekend with Comic-Con and MTS. MTS delivered a Comic-Con sponsorship and advertising program that generated significant non-fair revenue and expanded our commercial partnerships. Advertising sales included 45 fully wrapped trolley sponsorships of our special event line by Magic. The gathering and the first ever activation space rental at Convention Center Station. We sold out all 500 commemorative Comic-Con pins by Wednesday before the convention officially began. We also secured advertising placements on our new digital next arrival signs, sold out the gas lamp digital board, leased the gas lamp square for the Piercy Jackson activation and develop and sold temporary advertisement inventory along the fence line between Convention Center and Gaslamp Quarter Stations, creating new revenue opportunities and enhancing MTS Comic Con presence. The bottom line is we had a bus ridership was up to 33,444 over the four-day period four days of the previous week, and Trolley operated 790 additional trips, including the special event train overlay from Balboa Station to the Convention Center. Overall, our extra revenue from last year is at 343,825 passengers that were served, and it was an increase of 37,000 654 passengers. So a huge success between just one year and the next year. And so hopefully even next year will be even better. But I will tell you that our marketing department has been doing an incredible job to get people to ride instead of drive their cars, especially to the downtown area where it's difficult to park. So amongst other places. So that's all I have. Thank you so much.

Do council member Lothian? No. Council member Suzuki?

On July 23rd, the Mission Trails Regional Park Task Force got together and I just want to remind everyone that it is getting hotter and so be smart when you're going hiking and if you're on the trail or even if you're here in La Mesa, there have been heat warnings so make sure you have water, that you have shade, that you have a hat on. You can go online and see on the Mission Trails REGIONAL PARK WEBSITE TIPS. AND THEN ALSO ON BEHALF OF SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY POWER, PEOPLE ARE RUNNING THEIR AC MORE. SO GO ON THAT WEBSITE AND CHECK OUT HOW YOU CAN MAIN, YOU KNOW, MANAGE YOUR ELECTRICITY DEVELOPMENT. BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO GET PRETTY BAD THIS WEEKEND. SO BE SAFE.

THANK YOU, VICE MAYOR CASARES. COUNCIL MEMBER HUMORA. JUST KIDDING. JUST KIDDING. SORRY. ANY. YEAH, EXACTLY. Any reports? No one traveled? City attorney remarks? We are adjourned until September 8th. We're dark, but if you'd all like to come. Remember we passed an ordinance? But if you'd like, we can come. There was? But if you'd like, we can come here and just talk if you'd like. Thank you very much, we're adjourned.