City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

I'd like to call the September 1st, 2026 City Council meeting to order. Let the record reflect that all council members are present tonight. Voting tonight will be recorded using the city's electronic voting system. Move on to closed session public comment. Madam City Clerk, have we received any requests to speak during closed session public comment?

We have not, Mayor.

Thank you. At this time, the City Council will recess to closed session for the purpose of conducting regular city business. comments to the subject of that item. If you wish to speak on a subject not listed on the agenda, you may speak under public comment portion of the meeting. Finally, address your comments to the city council staff will not respond to questions from the city will respond from this only respond from this question from the city council, not from public speakers. We will not move on to the invocation. The invocation tonight will be provided by chaplain John Fosberg from the orange County sheriff's department.

gracious and heavenly father. We are grateful for the city of Lake Forest and for the privilege of privilege of gathering together this evening to conduct business for our community. We ask for your guidance and wisdom upon our mayor city council members city staff and all those who have been entrusted with serving the people of Lake Forest. Give them clarity of thought sound judgment courage to make decisions that are fair, responsible, and in the best interest of our entire community. Remind us that the public service is a responsibility and a trust. Help our leaders listen with understanding, speak with respect, and work together despite differences of opinion. May their decisions promote safety, prosperity, opportunity, and a strong sense of community. We pray also for the residents of Lake Forest, the families, seniors, young people, businesses, and all who call this city home. May our community continue to be a place where people can live, work, raise their families, and pursue their hopes and dreams. Finally, give us each of us the humility to recognize that we do not have all the answers, and the wisdom, seek what is right rather than simply what is easy. Bless this meeting, guide our deliberations, and grant our leaders wisdom as they can serve our community. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you. Now we'll move on to the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country will be led by Junior Troop 5482.

Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag, to the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, invisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, ready? Three, two, one.

Okay, we'll move on to the closed session report. Mr. City Attorney, are there any reportable items on closed session?

Thank you, Mayor. There is no action to report this evening from closed session. Thank you.

Madam City Clerk, do we have any requests to speak on closed session?

We do have one public commenter, and that is Sean Fletcher.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Sean Fletcher. I'm a 24-year resident of Lake Forest speaking on item 1. specifically the lawsuit filed against the city by the Meadows and the council's approval of the warehouse project. When a city council considers an administrative action, such as land use permit or developmental projects, council members have a responsibility to base their decisions on the evidence presented, the applicable law, and the findings before them. I watched the Marathon Planning and Development Commission meeting where this warehouse project was considered and ultimately approved, I watched the developer make significant concessions in response to concerns raised by Meadows residents. I also watched the city council meeting where the project was ultimately approved. City staff recommended approval and the council voted four to one with council member Yu casting the only dissenting vote. So council member Yu, I have a simple question. What specific evidence or provisional law justified your vote against this project? I'm a voter in your district and I have yet to hear a clear answer. Can you identify a specific finding made by city staff or the planning commission that you believe was unsupported by the evidence? Can you identify a specific legal requirement that this project failed to meet? If you can, I believe your constituents deserve to hear that explanation because if the decision was not based on evidence or applicable law, then residents as well as the applicant are left to question whether political considerations influenced an administrative decision. California law requires decision-makers to provide applicants with a fair and impartial hearing. Political pressure, personal beliefs, or political advantage cannot replace the evidence and law that are supported to govern these decisions. Councilmember Yu, you are certainly entitled to disagree with the project, but when you sit on this dais and make an administrative decision, your responsibility is greater than simply taking a political position. Your responsibility is to follow the evidence, follow the law, and explain your vote. The other four council members voted to approve this project after considering the record before them. I respectfully ask Council Member Yu to do something equally important. Tell the residents of his district exactly what evidence and law justifies his dissenting vote. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And my apologies, Mayor. We do have another closed session public commenter, and that is Andrea Alexander.

Good evening. This is very spur of the moment. I hadn't intended to speak, but here I am. The spirit moved me again. I object to more traffic on bake. And I questioned the negotiation that was made related to 15 trucks during the day and four trucks during the night would be all that would be allowed, and exactly How will you count those? How will you monitor those? There are trucks going up all day long, all night long. How would you identify those trucks from the other trucks? And also, what's the consequence? If you find a way to identify those trucks and they exceed the number of routes, what's the consequence? Is there a consequence? Is there a penalty? What is it? God, I'd love to read this contract. I object to more traffic on bake. You know that. You've known that for years. And Sean, I appreciate all that you said, but There are people that live on bake that suffer from the noise and pollution. And there are particulates in fuel that are known carcinogens. And we had a massive amount of cancers in our cul-de-sac. Four. Four cancers in our cul-de-sac. Just our cul-de-sac. So I hope you'd reconsider this. And I am with the people in the meadows. I'll stand with them. I'll march with them. I'd love to tie into their lawsuit. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

That's it, Mayor.

All right, thank you. We'll move on to presentations. Can I hear a motion?

Yeah, move presentations two through four. Second the motion.

This vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you. Madam City Clerk, please read the title of item number two.

The title of item number two is the proclamation declaring September 2026 as Service Clubs Month.

Thank you. Madam City Manager, please introduce this item.

Thank you, Mayor. We will have a brief presentation by our City Clerk, T. Merritt.

Thank you, City Manager Rose, Mayor and Council Members. This proclamation highlights the important work that service clubs provide for their respective local communities. And tonight, we have representatives from Kiwanis, Rotary, Scouting America, and SOAR Optimus, all organizations that have contributed to the City of Lake Forest through their charitable work and volunteerism. So I'd like for those representatives to please come up to the stage and why don't we give them a round of applause as they come up. And then council members, you wouldn't mind coming up to the stage as well.

It's that school time.

That's good.

Cedric, good to see you.

Thank you so much.

So these service groups, of course, they do so much for the community, and we thank you for what you do. And, well, John stayed down there, but John and Elaine Pong from the Kiwanis, I call them the James Brown of all service groups because they just work their tails off harder than anybody that I've ever seen. So thank you for all what you do, and I'm glad we have this to recognize you all.

All right, ready? Three, two, one. Thank you.

Any requests to speak?

We do have two public commenters for this item, and our first public commenter is John Carpese.

No, he's coming down. Yes, he is.

John, you can give your public comment right now.

Ready for me?

Yes.

All right. Mary Picanha members of the City Council. My name is John Carpiers. I'm the president of the Lake Forest Kiwanis Club. I'm here tonight to bring you up to date. On a program that we've had for a couple of years now. Couple years ago we were. Contacted by. Tribuco Hills post acute. Skilled nursing facility. Try saying that five times. They have about 160 to 170 residents that they take care of 24-7. And they needed some help as far as a group that would go and visit with them in their rooms and just talk to them, communicate with them. Those people are bedridden for the most part. They're transported around for different events within the complex. And they just wanted us to walk in there and start chatting with them. What did you do for a living? Where did you live? What was your military career like? And those people, some people, you're in there for like a half an hour. They don't let you go. There's a lot of people that are in their 70s, 80s, and some in their 90s. They don't have anybody left. They're the last. So when someone comes in that just wants to pay a little bit of attention to them, they love it. And what we give is nothing compared to what we get. And I've talked to different people, and a lot of our members of our club have been there doing the same thing. Sharon Allman is the activities director. And she has bingo games, she has crafts. Recently she talked to me and she says, can you guys work with your high school Kiwanis key clubs? The seniors in wheelchairs would love to chat with them and have a chance to see them. So there was probably 50 in wheelchairs in a big circle. And our kids from the high school, you're talking 15 year olds. They've never had a chance to do something like this. Maybe they stood in front of Albertsons and sold cookies. But to walk into that kind of an environment was pretty overwhelming to them. But they overcame that. They talked to these residents there. And we got nothing but glowing reports. So we're grateful for our key clubs and all that they do. And Sharon does a great job as far as helping us help them. So that's where we are with that. We're going to try and recruit some people that would help us do the things that need to be done there. They don't have to be a member of Kiwanis. They just want to be able to help. And if we can get people, if I can get 20 people.

Thank you for your comments, John.

And our next public commenter is Sean Fletcher.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and those present or watching online. I'm speaking on item two service club month. As one of the organizers for clean lake forest, I would like to invite you to our next event on Saturday, September 19th and celebration of national cleanup day. Participants are encouraged to go to the clean lake forest website to sign up for a particular area of the city. Participants could choose between the front of the local school and the surrounding neighborhood or city park and surrounding neighborhood. We meet at Pittsburgh park that morning before 8am and pass out pickers, safety vests and trash bags. After a brief welcome, participants will head to their selective cleanup area to collect litter. Once finished, everyone will return back to Pittsford Park to drop off their filled bags in the large trash bins generously provided by CR&R. As an added bonus, Lampost Pizza in Lake Forest is donating a 50% off coupon for one pizza on that particular day. I look forward to seeing you all there, and I do have flyers in case anybody present would like to have it for promoting to their group or organization. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

That's it.

Okay, thank you. We'll move on.

I really appreciate John and Sean making those kind of comments and the other folks here that are representing your respective organizations. And when we see the behind the scenes stories about what kind of an impact this has on our community, we want to make sure that we give huge kudos for that. And I guess my encouragement would be for people who have not gotten involved, give a little bit of time, give a little bit of yourself. And as John said, the heart of a volunteer gets so much more than what the people that you're serving. And I just encourage that. I've experienced that myself through a number of different organizations. So thank you very much again for coming and sharing the stories with us and the service that you had to our community and making such a big impact. Thank you.

Thank you. So we'll move on to item number three. Madam City Clerk, please read the title of item number three.

Yes, Mayor. The title of item number three is the proclamation declaring September 2026 as Hunger Action Month.

Thank you. Madam City Manager, please introduce this item.

Once again, we have a presentation by our very capable city clerk, T. Merritt.

Thank you again. City Manager Rose, Mayor and Council Members. Hunger Action Month is a national effort to raise awareness about food insecurity. And through organizations like the Orange County Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank, individuals experiencing food insecurity are provided support through food. a network of food banks throughout the county. So in recognition of those efforts, we have a representative from Second Harvest here to receive this proclamation. If you could please come up and let's give them a round of applause. I guess they are not here.

They're probably out giving food right now.

That is probably it. And we have no public comments on this item.

Well, thank you. So back when I was the homeless officer, one of the things that I learned really quick was our fastest growing homeless population were our seniors. And places like the OC Food Bank, the Second Harvest, Saddleback Church, South County Outreach and even Crossline Church give food out on a weekly basis. And a lot of these seniors take advantage of this so they can save money. So these organizations keep roofs over people's heads. So I'm really glad that they do that. And, you know, I really like to encourage everybody to go and just check it out. And, uh, you know, or if you know somebody that's, that's struggling, send them to any one of these organizations. So, uh, we'll move on to, um, madam city clerk, please read the title to item number four.

Yes, the title of item number four is the proclamation declaring September 2026 as World Alzheimer's Awareness Month.

Should I just ask you to introduce?

Yeah, maybe.

Madam City Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor and council members. This proclamation raises awareness about Alzheimer's and other related dementia diseases. Through the efforts of organizations like Alzheimer's Orange County, those living with Alzheimer's are provided with quality care and support services. And on top of that, Alzheimer's Orange County also partners with local researchers to help advance the search for a cure for this incredibly debilitating disease. So tonight we have representatives from Alzheimer's Orange County to receive this proclamation and if they could come up to stage and let's give them a round of applause.

All right. Ready? Three, two, one. Thank you.

Do we have any requests to speak?

We do. We have one public commenter, and that is Deborah Morse.

Good evening, Mayor Pecaino and honorable council members and city staff. My name is Deborah Morse. I'm a gerontologist. I'm also an outreach specialist and educator for Alzheimer's Orange County. I am a constituent of Lake Forest. So, you know, Alzheimer's in Orange County is the largest nonprofit agency specializing in dementia in Orange County, excuse me. We're also working with the community since 1982, supporting families coping with all forms of dementia, helping them with education, knowledge from professionals, and working to fund research, which is very, very important. Why I'm speaking is just kind of bring a little bit of awareness and reminder of exactly what we're doing. Statistics. So today, there is more than 164,000 people in Orange County that have Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. And nationwide, it's 7.4 million. Alzheimer's is the sixth largest cause of death in the United States. Third in Orange County. So Orange County is aging faster than any other region in the United States. By 2030, we'll have more 85-year-olds in Orange County than any other county in the United States. 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day. By 2030 also, there'll be more people over the age of 65 than under 18. Alzheimer's Orange County has been here 43 years. Every dollar that we raise stays right here because we're on the ground and we know what your people need. Our community needs us and it's very targeted. Some of the services that we provide is helpline, 24 hour service, oh boy, gotta go faster. Support groups, education, we have 40 educational groups in the community every single month. We have community engagement, outreach, we do all the resource fairs, health expos, we have memory screening, enhanced care management, and we are leaders and participate in many groups including the Orange County Aging Services Collaborative, Orange County Veterans and Military Families Collaborative, the Orange County Older Adults Act Commission, and Cal Optima Provider Advisory. Alzheimer's and dementia is not an age-related disease. We must provide tips and lifestyle changes for prevention, or we will be defining the disease the baby boomer generation will live with for the rest of their lives. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

That's it, Mayor.

Okay, we'll move on to public comment. If you would like to make a comment, please fill out a blue speaker card and give it to the city clerk and your name will be called. Comments are limited to three minutes. The council and staff will not respond to questions or comments during the public comment period. If you leave your contact information, staff may contact you to address issues you raised during your comment. When you're called to speak, come up to the podium. Your three minutes will begin when the green light appears. Green light will rain on for two minutes. When the light changes from green to yellow, speakers will have one minute to conclude their comments. When the light changes from yellow to red, your time is concluded, and please return to your seat. A timer is not displayed on the screen. Madam City Clerk, do we have any requests to speak?

We do, Mayor, and our first public commenter is Cedric Campbell.

Good afternoon. I'm Cedric Campbell. I'm the vice chair for the Saddleback District of Scouting America. I want to share a quick announcement for you guys. We have an event coming up on September 20th. It's our second annual Scout Fest 2026. Last year we had at Pittsburgh Park, we had about 200 visitors that came by. This year we could not align our park request, so our dates are the same. It's going to be the 20th, but this year it's going to be at Oso Fields near Norman P. Murray and Mission Viejo. But it's the same carnival atmosphere where all the families get a chance to enjoy a Saddleback scouting, they meet other scouts. Parents have some fun, all that good stuff there. This year we have something special. Anybody who joins scouting this year, we will waive the $160 annual fee so that they can go and join more scouting. And until the end of the year, so making scouting one of, you know, again, one of our youth's best values when it comes to leadership even better. I want to recognize Councilmember Scott Voigt. He and I bumped into each other at an event. He had a great suggestion. I want to let you know I'm following up on that. We're now partnering with the Orange County Department of Education to identify paid apprenticeship opportunities for our older scouts who bring to a new employer those proven leadership skills that they bring. And I don't know if you realize this, but for someone to become an Eagle Scout, they will have spent 3,000 hours collectively getting 21 merit badges, if not more, which is about a year and three. So now a scout comes in and they've got 1.3 years of experience going to their first job, which is really incredible, or a college application. So this really gives the opportunity for our scouts to unlock their advantage through the scouting program. And when it comes to college applications and long-term careers, we really believe this is another, again, value of scouting. So I encourage you to come by Scout Fest 2026, learn more about scouting, have some fun. There is a flyer out there with the QR code. You can also go to our website anytime you want and visit that and see what's going on there. Lake Forest has always been fantastic when it comes to scouting support. We appreciate the council members for doing that. And again, appreciate the recognition for the proclamation. All the best. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Mark Hermanson.

Okay, everyone. Well, I guess I owe an apology because at a previous meeting, I mistakenly said that Randy Johnson made the comment, I'm glad I'm not there tonight so I don't have to look at your faces. Well, what was actually said is we have a city of 85,000 people. We don't need you anymore. And I'm getting kind of tired of looking at your faces, to be quite honest with you. Well, first off, I want to thank him for acknowledging that the people on this dais have done such a fantastic job. that you're not needed anymore. It takes a very humble person to acknowledge the quality of work that you've done that you're no longer needed. But I have to ask, why do we need to add in, I'm kind of tired of looking at your faces? Compared to my misquote, which was a difference without distinction, this is silly high school nonsense that did not need to be added in. It served no purpose other than to be insulting for no reason. I can answer the other things, but it's the same silliness. I respect that Mr. Johnson came to the podium to defend his honor, but I almost expected the theme to Captain America to be played when he talked about free speech, you know, in these council chambers. Well, when you make yourself the victim, free speech means you should also be open to receiving the same kind of candor that you like to give others up here. To be clear, I never went at Mr. Johnson. Many were here when I asked a large group of people to be respectfully counseled. They came in hot. Mr. Johnson decided to yell out and instigate with me and make himself the main character in the story. I walked away the first time. The second time I spoke, he yelled out, this would be over in a minute. Well, I chose not to walk away that time. You see, some people, they mistake being loudly dominant for respect, and they get away with it for so long because no one calls them out. Now, I'm not looking to meet on the playground at 3 a.m. I outgrew that stuff 45 years ago. And in reality, I'm not going to argue with people who need more attention than logic. Multiple residents texted me after the meeting, and they used the same words. Here he goes again, acting like a bully. Not the words I would have used, but, hey, if that's the feeling. You see, months ago, I knew eventually one of three of the usual suspects, they would behave in a way that would prove my point for me that we need decorum and respect at these meetings. Well, that's called you got played. So the truth is I've won. No matter what is said about me or spread about me, more residents are speaking up. They want respect and quality in these meetings. They don't want the agro-ness, the silliness, the chess buffing. See, this is what happens when someone's playing chess and you're playing chutes and ladders. We should not have to give a warning to new city council members that they are going to face venom when they sit up here. So if things are this bad, there are about eight commissioner slots coming up, I think, at the end of the year you can apply for. I would say I hope to see Mr. Johnson's name in contention because I mean with your vast knowledge on how everybody up here does their job wrong, I'm sure you will be here to fix this city. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Anil Patel.

Good evening, Mayor Pequeño, council members, city staff, Anil Patel, District 3. I just want to share some positive feedback tonight. Many residents only see you the first and third Tuesday of the month. I have the pleasure of seeing you at different community events throughout the month. I want to recognize Mayor Pequeño who attended Scouting America Troop 604's Court of Honor about two Fridays ago. We had two Eagle Scouts or two Scouts that earned the rank of Eagle. Mayor Pequeño was there in attendance for about two hours on a Friday evening above and beyond what was needed for that presentation. So I want to acknowledge our mayor for spending that time with us. Uh, I also attended a public forum, uh, hosted by Caltrans and Okta, uh, I believe it was last Wednesday. Uh, they were talking about the, uh, the interchange with the I-5 and El Toro corridor. And I saw council member Tettemer there. I saw our assistant city manager Neves there. Uh, so I just want to make sure people know that our council members, our staff are not just here on the first and third, uh, third Tuesday of the month. They're actually out and about throughout the city. excuse me, at multiple events, and so I want to recognize you for attending those events. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Sue Burke.

Thank you. I'm going to remove my Soroptimist hat and become a citizen for a moment. I've been a resident of Lake Forest for just over 30 years. I live near the intersection of Bake and Tribuco and drive through that intersection multiple times a day for work. And I excitedly endured the construction at that intersection, looking forward to a better traffic flow. And for the most part, it delivered. But I would like to bring to your attention a small oversight in the design of the intersection, something that would be very easily fixed. Not only do I drive that intersection on a regular basis, but I ride my bike through it on a regular basis. And the right turn lane going from Bake on to, excuse me, going from Tribuco on to Bake near McDonald's, they have eliminated the bike lane. So what you have is you have four lanes going straight, and the right turn lane is a right turn and a straight lane. There is no bike lane going through that intersection. It would be very, very simple to cut that down to three lanes going through the intersection, a dedicated right turn lane, and adding back the bike lane. because the four lanes are completely unnecessary. That's all I have to say. Give me back my bike lane. So that I was driving through that intersection yesterday. I twice saw cyclists almost get hit going through the intersection because of the way that intersection is now designed. So somebody on the traffic commission, take a look at that intersection and redesign it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Sean Fletcher.

Good evening again. To paraphrase a famous line from Hamlet, something is rotten in the city of Lake Forest. A few meetings ago, Council Member Chenimer diplomatically referred to that rot, and we thought we were done with it. Unfortunately, some rot needs a deeper cut to remove. Specifically I like to bring to light a series of email messages sent by Bob Stewart who included many of those usual Suspects that were part of that era our city Many who still come to the City Council to wail gnash their teeth against the council whose crime The council committed is really that their election removed that rock from power So for some reason mr. Stewart and his group still considers themselves somewhat of kingmaker Kingmakers despite the city residents overwhelmingly booting their leaders out of office. I First, Mr. Stewart withdrew his District 2 candidacy and announced that he was working for Becky Keene Election Committee, which appeared to be news to her. Then, after she publicly distanced herself from him and his ilk, he then decided to go full misogyny in an email thread stating that he had a nice long lunch with former Mayor Jim Garner, writing, Our consensus, neither female candidate in D2 has the experience, aggressiveness, nor understanding resources destroy well-funded evil you. You ladies probably won't get Garner or Stewart's endorsement at this point. This could easily change if the two males were even less aggressive qualified, which is unlikely. He ended the email trying to somehow portray himself as a voice for women. He followed up that email with a new thread on August 23, referencing former council member Niki Motazade as a useless bikini bimbo, which reflects his continued use of chauvinistic and misogynistic language. Which, to be honest, is not surprising since that group used similar personal attacks against a former council member during the Sonny Morpher campaign against her. What is also concerning and maybe grounds for a criminal investigation is his statement of, we must destroy you or his signs. Other than he essentially is encouraging people to commit a criminal crime, I noted that Adam Nick was included in that thread. And you would think that he would chip up and respond by saying, hey, I wouldn't recommend that. Well, we can see who Bob Stewart really is and really does answer his political slogan, what about Bob? What really concerns me is how the members of those email threads remain silent about his deplorable language. To quote Plato's apology, I will treat your silence as agreement. So do we really want any of these members near our city government? I would think not. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And our last public commenter is Nikita Ganatra.

Good evening council members, members of the audience and of course anyone who's watching as well. Tonight I am here just on behalf of Soroptimus International of Saddleback Valley. I have been a member for I think about almost 10 years and I want to highlight the amount of work that the members of this very small unique group does Just this past month, Back to School Picnic was organized for some of our awards recipients. These are women who are trying to empower themselves through education. We provide them with educational grants. And this is the first time that we invited them to come to a Back to School Picnic. We organized it. A very generous donor from the community provided us with 19 backpacks that we needed. to fill with school supplies. We were able to combine all of the additional donations that were also collected by our other members and continue to provide that support. And I urge anyone who's listening tonight to reach out to us so that we could continue to support those who are in grave need and not only grave need, but sometimes it's just a matter of, hey, I just need school supplies for this year. because I had other expenses that came up and I don't have those resources. Just to give you a heads up on also the impact that it had, when we didn't have all of our members show, those that were invited, we were able to take those school supplies and through our partnership with Kumon Foothill Ranch, as well as additional community members, we were able to take those school supplies and further distribute them to the community. Additionally, 17 families did come by the center to pick up more supplies and asked if we could do this again. And we were also able to disseminate Bamba socks that went to Olivewood as well as Ralph's Gates Elementary here in Saddleback Valley for a total value of $2,500. because each of those pairs of socks are about $15 in value, and edX Global, which is a nonprofit that also partnered with us, was able to provide those. We still have three more bags of those socks that are gonna go out, and I just delivered additional ones to Tustin Public Schools Foundation. So if you're listening, know that we are doing the work that is needed, and provide us with your support, whether it's through in-kind donations, which we will be looking for, and if not that, certainly cash helps and goes a long way, and we make very good use of it for those who need it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

That's it, Mayor.

Okay, thank you. We'll move on to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the city council or staff request specific items to be removed from the consent calendars for separate action. Have there been any requests to remove any item from the consent calendar?

No requests to remove and no public comment on any of the items on the consent calendar.

Mayor, I'll move consent calendar five through 11.

I'll second that motion. Let's vote.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. We'll move on to public hearings. We'll now move to public hearing item number 12. I would like to open the public hearing. Madam City Clerk, please read the title to item number 12.

The title of item number 12 is the Annual Review of Development Agreements.

Thank you. Madam City Manager, can you please introduce this item?

Thank you, Mayor. Tonight we have a presentation by our Housing and Economic Development Manager, Adrienne Grijalva.

Thank you, Ms. Rose. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight I have a very short presentation regarding the annual review of development agreements. State law and the terms of the development agreements, also referred to as DAs, require the city to conduct an annual review of active DAs for compliance with their respective terms and conditions. Good faith compliance shall be established if the owner is in compliance with every term and condition of its DA. The first DA was conducted in August of 2009. Since that time, the City Council has conducted DA reviews for each fiscal year and found that each owner has been in good faith compliance with its respective DA requirements and obligations. This DA review is centered on development activities associated with each property owner through fiscal year 25-26. The DA review includes the following developers and corresponding development projects. The Portola Center project features Baldwin, Serrano Summit features Lennar, and the Meadows project features Toll Brothers. All projects are nearing completion as shown on screen. Construction is ongoing for the Portola Center project and all permits have been issued for the Meadows and construction is complete in the Serrano Summit project. The Serrano Summit project is considered complete and will not require review in future years. At this time, staff is recommending the City Council conduct the annual review of DAs between the City and USA Portola Properties, Lennar Homes, and Toll Brothers West, Inc., and find that each property owner to be in good faith compliance with the respective DAs for activities ending June 30th, 2026. That concludes my presentation, and I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Before we go, staff or colleagues, questions? All right, are there any requests to speak on this?

No request to speak.

Okay, so we will close this item and do I have a motion?

Move approval.

Okay, let's vote.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay, we'll move on to item number 13. We'll now open this public hearing. Madam City Clerk, please read the title to item number 13.

The title of item number 13 is the User and Regulatory Fees Update.

Madam City Manager, please introduce this item.

Thank you, Mayor. Tonight we have a presentation by our Assistant Director of Finance, Amy Lewis.

Thank you, Ms. Rose. Honorable Mayor, members of City Council, Tonight the item before you is a consideration of the updated master fee schedule. The city for the last eight years has worked with ClearSource Financial doing fee study analysis as well as conducting cost of services analysis. So tonight we have with us David Schroeder who will be walking you through any of the updates that we have to the fee schedule as well as telling you the analysis. So with that, here's David.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. Thank you for allowing me to be here this evening to speak with you on this topic. As Amy said, my name is David Schroeder. I'm here with ClearSource Financial, and we've assisted the city with its user and regulatory fees for about the last seven years now. And we perform similar types of work throughout the entire state. So the city recently completed a user and regulatory fee study and we're here to present the results of that study and provide counsel with information that it can use to make decisions regarding potential fee updates. So we've broken apart this presentation into a few parts. In this first part we'll cover aspects of user and regulatory fees that are common to all municipalities throughout the state and in the next part we'll cover items that are more specific and the results of the fee study as it relates to the city. So as a reminder, the overall topic for this item is service-based fees. These are fees that communities throughout the state collect when providing particular service to an individual or to a business. And these differ from the broad general services that we provide to the overall community. Most of the time we think about using our tax dollars for services that provide broad community-wide benefit. things like public work services, public safety, park maintenance, things of that nature. And user regulatory fees are applied to recover the cost of providing services that are more direct in nature. So the fees that we're thinking about today are direct service-based fees, including building fees, planning, engineering, and some non-development related fees for recreation facility rental and so forth. It's important to note that we're not dealing with taxes or assessments, utility rates or development impact fees to mitigate the cost of infrastructure. Those fall under different categories and there's different requirements for adopting those types of fees. So why do cities throughout the state review and perform similar updates? The main reason is to ensure compliance with legal requirements. Primarily, we want to ensure that we're not exceeding the estimated and reasonable cost of providing these services. Secondly, recovering these services by definition reduces the overall burden on the city's general fund resources, and that allows the city to use more of those resources to be used for general services in the community. As we discussed, that's things like public safety and so forth. And lastly, when we recover the cost of these direct services, it positions Lake Forest to continue to meet service level expectations of the community. So let's say I have a project and I need plans reviewed or a permit issued or an inspection completed, somebody at the city will be here to help me with what I need and to be able to do it in a timely manner. So in terms of fee setting, we want to ensure that we follow the guidance that's outlined in the California Constitution and California Government Code. And specifically because these are fees and not taxes, we do have some limitations. We're not a for-profit business. We can establish fees that recover the city's cost of service, but we don't want to recover beyond that. And then secondarily, cost of service and fee establishment should align to the level of effort necessary to perform a particular service. So something that's more labor intensive would tend to have a higher fee than something that's less labor intensive. We would expect a lower fee for that type of service. So everything we've covered to this point is common to every community throughout the state. It applies to Lake Forest and also its neighbors and everywhere else in California. Next we're gonna cover what is more specific to Lake Forest in terms of the fee study. So your schedule includes hundreds of line items because you're trying to contemplate all the various scenarios that come through the door and you're trying to have a fee schedule that can accommodate them. So from a decision making standpoint, we try and break out those hundreds of fees into broad categories for your consideration. So Lake Forest has almost 800 fees that are included in your user and regulatory fee schedule. About 41% of the fees are proposed to remain relatively unchanged or not change at all. They might have adjustments of up to 5% or no more than $10 or less and this is to align with your updated cost of service and these represent very minor changes. So this 41% along with an additional 20% of fees that were eliminated or consolidated, and these are gonna be in the building department, represent about 65% or most of your fees. The reason for this is Lake Forest does an excellent job of proactively managing and adjusting its fees on a regular basis rather than waiting multiple years to update and make changes. So you and your find as necessary each year and this is consistent with what we would expect to see with a city that does manage proactively. About 8% of your fees have been restructured due to changes in how the departments operate today compared to when the fees were first established. And so the fees were restructured to better reflect how the departments perform the services that are related to those fees. Most of those fees can be found in building where they consolidated a large number of fees into fewer categories that made more sense with the city's services that it currently provides. And then currently building is transitioning from using outside service providers to using in-house staff. And so that's another reason the fees were restructured within building is just to better accommodate the services that are gonna be provided by that in-house staff. Let's see. About 21% of the fees are proposed to increase by more than 5%. Most of these you'll find in planning, engineering, and building. And these increases are based on updated fully burdened hourly rates, and in some cases, updates to the service times involved with performing those services for the fees. Normally, this is because you might see changes in the building code, changes in procedures that require more effort than it used to when the fees were first established. And then regarding new fees that are being proposed, there's 35 new fees proposed in this update. Some of the examples of these fees can be found in the planning department. They're proposing having a planning department review of building permits. In engineering, they are proposing a new fee for night work that they didn't previously have. Within community preservation, there's group home permits proposed. In recreation, we're also proposing a refundable cleaning and damage deposit for clubhouse rental kitchen use. And then lastly, as part of the restructuring building that we discussed, there's several new fees there. A lot of them are gonna be in the miscellaneous section of the building fee schedule. And then lastly, the anticipated fiscal impact of the proposed fee schedule adoption is an estimated $185,000 in additional cost recovery for the city's general fund. It's important to remember that the intent of these adjustments is simply to offset the inflationary and cost pressure that you face as a city. The recalibration of these fees is not intended to enhance or expand service levels. It's just an offset of existing costs that you are already facing.

So the purpose of tonight's presentation was to give an overview of the fee study as well as any of the changes. However, attachment two of the staff report has the 800 fees with the proposed fee and the new fee. So if you have any questions, David and I are here and happy to answer any questions you have on the specific fees or anything else.

All right. Well, thank you for the presentation. Before we go to public comment, colleagues.

I do have one. I guess you're going to wait. Go ahead. Oh, me? All right. Your clubhouse rental, that's a new fee, but that's just a deposit? Correct.

It's a deposit.

So it's not really a fee, a deposit? Correct. It's classified in the same category?

Yes. It's still included in the master fee schedule, but it is a deposit.

Okay.

Thank you, Mayor. Thanks so much for the presentation, David. And we appreciate also the detail put together, Amy, by your team in here. And I think it's just something that I wanted to make sure that our residents understand is that there are a lot of amenities that we have in the city of Lake Forest that over the years, the council, staff, working with finance, looking at what kind of a value judgment do we have? For example, on fields and athletic facilities and things like that. we don't come anywhere near covering the cost of those facilities. Is that an accurate statement?

That is accurate. Yes. The recreation does not have that high of a fee recovery level.

Yes, so I hope our residents understand the value that they have living here in Lake Forest is that we have actually a very fair system with tiered, structured rates on that, but for our youth organizations and for different recreational activities is that we've made a judgment that we are going to supply those and not really intending to have cost recovery 100%. It's much lower. I think it's in the teens somewhere. Is that what it would be?

Right around 20% to 25%.

25%, okay, good, good. Just want to make sure that our residents kind of have that understanding about what we're providing for them in terms of the amenities we have in Lake Forest. Thank you.

No, hey, thank you for the presentation. There's a lot in there. Do we have any requests to speak on this item?

We do, Mayor, and we only have one public commenter, and that is Juan Gonzalez. Juanito. Juanito.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of Council, Juan Gonzalez, SoCalGasPublicAffair, Lake Forest staff, thank you so much. Thank you for giving me the opportunity before you today. This item was brought to our attention thanks to the information that came from the city clerk in terms of the fees. I did have a conversation earlier today in relation to your engineering proposal fee of, well, I believe it's a deposit. on section nine for encroachment. And from speaking with Mr. Nevs earlier today, indicated that particular fee sometimes does not apply to us. Wanted to see the opportunity if council and staff would be allowed for the opportunity to include language that would say that that particular does not take place with the franchise utilities. My understanding currently the deposit Fee is going from $825 to $1,500 deposit, which was a little bit of a sticker shock on our end. So we wanted to kind of bring this item to the attention and potentially ask for additional verbiage to include that such item would not be allotted to the franchise utilities. We thank you and appreciate the time to speak before you, and if you have any questions, I'm here to ask them.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right, I'll entertain a motion.

So there's a motion. Yeah. I got a question to talk to Amy. Would that, because they're a public utility, would that be something that we could exempt out of public utility services?

I'm going to defer to Deborah if I could answer that. Yeah. Okay. So as city council, you can make that decision to change the master fee schedule to identify who would be charged the fees. Yes. Is that how it is written now? Currently, no, it is not.

Council.

Thank you. I'm trying to think about whether we should proceed, but then ask staff to come back with a little more discussion on this item and we can revisit the fee schedule, let it go forward. But I'm looking at the city manager. Can we ask staff to... come back at a subsequent meeting to give us more information about what's informed the current rate structure and what the request is and the motivation for it and how that would relate to anybody else who might be seeking that same relief.

So would you be asking to move the item without that one line item to have further discussion just on that one item or move forward

I WAS INCLINED TO SAY LET'S MOVE FORWARD AND PUT ALL THE FEES IN PLACE, AND I'M ASSUMING THAT FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME THEY WOULD BE SUBJECTED TO THAT IF WE CHOSE TO REVISIT IT LATER ON, BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE FOR YOU TO COME BACK WITH THAT ITEM SO THE COUNCIL CAN LOOK AT THAT MORE IN DEPTH. I DON'T WANT TO MAKE A DECISION OF THAT GRAVITY WITHOUT HAVING MORE INFORMATION.

SURE, WE COULD DO THAT.

SO I WOULD MOVE THE ITEM WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THAT WILL COME BACK AT A MEETING IN TWO WEEKS OR A MONTH?

Yeah, I don't know how long it would take us, but I would think it'd be within two meetings, yes.

And I'll second that motion with that amendment to it to where we bring that back in and let us figure out what that actually impactful on our public utilities. All right, so we have a motion and a second. The motion has been made, we'll call for the vote.

and that motion passes unanimously.

And I'll close that item. And that takes us to the City Manager's Report.

I have nothing further, thank you.

Thank you. The City Council comments. Council Member Tettemer.

Nothing tonight, thank you.

Council Member Voigt. Nothing tonight, thank you. Council Member You. Mayor Pro Tem.

Well, I have to offer something here for everybody tonight. So, uh, tonight we actually, one of our consent items and something that a lot of us are really concerned about is with the cybersecurity these days and, you know, coming up on a labor day weekend and our staff, we just want to congratulate them and thank them so much for all the great work that they do. But I was advised by our it staff that I should change all my passwords to Kenny. I thought about that and I said, so now I have all Kenny logins, but don't worry, I like to live in the danger zone, so everything's all good with that, but I appreciate the advice. Thank you, Mayor.

You never let us down mayor pro tem. So I, uh, I attended the, uh, it was a Costco groundbreaking, uh, last week. And like, uh, commissioner Patel said, I went to troop six Oh four code of honor for a pair of brothers. And I was pretty impressed with a younger brother. How old was he? The younger one. he was young, super young and got his Eagle Eagle Eagle, uh, scout. So anyway, uh, that's all I have and will be adjourned.