City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Speaker Crowe. Oh, okay. Recording in progress. Thank you. Hi, how are you? I appreciate you so much.

Good evening and welcome. Today is September 15th, 2026. It is 7.01 p.m. And I'm gonna be calling two concurrent meetings to order this evening for our community. It's a little different than normal. The first is the Joint Powers Financing Authority for which the city council serves as the board. The second is the regular city council meeting. These two boards will be hearing and taking actions on the following item. which is currently item number 22 on the agenda, approving, authorizing, and directing execution of certain financing documents and certain actions in connection with the issuance of up to $16,500,000 in water revenue bonds for financing improvements to the city's water system. So thank you for that. And with that, we will please rise, if able, for the Pledge of Allegiance. If Councilmember Eicher, you could lead us, please. Thank you very much. Can we go ahead and have roll call please?

Council members Eicher? Present. Council member Gatos is absent this evening. Council member Nybert?

Here.

Testa? Here. Mayor Balch?

Present.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. A few quick announcements for our community. I just wanted to make sure you're aware of. The first is Coffee with a Cop. It has returned to Pleasanton on October 7th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kumar Yemeni Coffee at 5901 Owens Drive. Please join our police force and get to know them there. second september is national preparedness month as we've learned as a community in our own little fire emergency it is important for you and your family to be prepared you can learn more about how to prepare on the city's website simply type in emergency preparedness at the top and please don't forget to sign up for ac alerts Third, the last weekend on Main for 2026 will be held October 3rd through 4th. We hope you come down and discover your downtown Pleasanton yet again. A lot will be going on, and thanks to the programming put on by the Pleasanton Downtown Association. And then fourth, I know our community has been faced with some recent burglaries. I've asked our city manager if he could give us a quick update because I know many of us are concerned. So city manager, if you don't mind, please.

Certainly. Thank you, Mayor Balsh, City Council. We did want to address the community concerns that we've heard regarding the series of commercial burglaries that occurred last Thursday on the 10th. In total, there were 24 businesses in Pleasanton that were targeted. These crimes have caused disruption, financial loss, and I think understandable concern for the whole community, especially the local business community and their employees. Our police department responded immediately to these crimes, and they've launched a coordinated investigation. This includes responding to local businesses, collecting and reviewing available evidence, coordinating closely with regional law enforcement partners to work toward identifying and arresting those that are responsible for these crimes. Based on the information that we have available at this time, the individuals responsible appear to have committed similar crimes across the entire Tri-Valley. The series of crimes involved unlawful entry into the businesses, theft of cash from registers. Our police department is working with investigators in neighboring jurisdictions to identify connections that might exist among these incidents. and working to support a coordinated enforcement response. I want to stress that this is a very active and ongoing investigation, and to that end, the city can't comment on the status of the investigation, any leads, evidence, or suspect information. or specific tactics. However, I want to assure the council and the community that our police department is treating these crimes with the urgency that they warrant, and they are fully engaged with their law enforcement partners throughout the region. And, of course, any community member that has any relevant information, video, or observations should contact our police department. I would add further that our police department is continuing to maintain a visible presence in our commercial areas and they are also conducting direct outreach with affected businesses and in our business districts. We appreciate the cooperation of those business owners, the employees, our residents, and our regional partners as we continue with this process. And while responsibility rests solely with those that are responsible for committing these crimes, our businesses, we want to make sure that they know that there are practical steps that can be taken to reduce opportunities for burglaries and improve the evidence that's available to investigators. And so our crime prevention staff and our patrol personnel are available to assist businesses with practical security assessments and prevention strategies. So we do commit we do remain very committed to supporting our business community, holding those individuals responsible, accountable and keeping our council and our community informed as additional information can be shared without compromising the ongoing investigation.

Thank you very much, and I appreciate that. And as he has mentioned, for anyone interested, we do have crime prevention resources available. Please contact our police department if you'd like to learn more about that. Okay, that completes that, and I'm gonna go to agenda amendments. Any agenda amendments by staff at this time? Sorry.

Yeah, I would staff would suggest with regard to item number eight, which is the master fee schedule that you may want to take that item up later on in the agenda once you have completed the rest of the items that are on the consent calendar.

OK, any agenda? I'm going to hold that any agenda amendments by my fellow council members at this time.

I'd like to pull item 10, the pickleball reservation system, and I'm going to recommend that we send it back to the Park and Rec Commission to consider the considerable outpouring of public comment that they have not heard in regards to this issue and what appears to be a staff report with incomplete information in it.

Sorry. I apologize. Just so you know, residents may have different viewpoints and perspectives. So we would like that you please be respectful of any viewpoints and perspectives, even if they are different than your own. So please no booing or clapping so that we can hear all perspectives and viewpoints and weigh the matter. So I appreciate that for maintaining decorum. Councilmember, I think because of where we're at, Dan, I'm just going to ask you, City Attorney, He's referring it back to park and rec. We've got it on the agenda. We can't remit without hearing it and sending it if we were to do so. Is that correct? That's a bit of a different procedure than our normal one.

The council can as a whole or it can be, you know, the one item removed from the agenda and continued. So those are options.

Yeah, but if we continue it, it's still at this body, and I think Councilmember Eicher is asking it go back to our commission.

I think the best bet would be to put it off till later and then have action of the council.

Okay. So what I'm going to do, there might be many members here who would like to speak on the Muirwood Community Park Pickleball Courts, item 10. I'm going to move that, I think I'm trying to gauge the audience here, but I'm going to move that to 21B. So that will be one of our first items we'll hear when we get there. so that you don't have to wait through the whole agenda. It might be a late night, so that we can hear your comments. And then I think city manager, if I heard you correctly, eight, which I know has a fee for the pickleball, we could put that as 21C. Would that work for you?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay, so if you're here for item 10 and you've turned in a blue speaker card, we're going to just automatically convert you to now 21B. If you're speaking on item 8, we're going to automatically convert you, best I can, to 21C. And so those two items are coming off of our consent. Any additional agenda amendments by my fellow council members? Council Member Nyberg?

I would like to clarify item number 12, special events policy. A question?

Okay. Why don't we hold up if you don't mind on that real fast? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So with where we're at in the amendments made by staff and council, consent calendar is items 1 through 17, less item 10, and less item 8. With that, I'll proceed to consent calendar. Items listed on the consent calendar are hereby considered routine in nature and may be enacted by one motion. If discussion is required, that particular item may be removed from consent and be considered separately, as we've done with items 8 and 10. With that, clarifying questions on the consent calendar, Councilmember Nyberg?

Yes, I had a concern expressed to me about the special events policy. This is item number 12 on the consent calendar. I believe we had looked at this last time and gave counsel's direction or opinions on it. Now that it's before us to... either adopt or not adopt. There are a couple of changes made, pursuant to some fairly minor comments. But I did want to bring up a concern that was expressed to me about the fact that the policy wasn't brought before the Civic Arts Commission for discussion or recommendation. And for a special events policy that deals with arts and cultural events, whether that was appropriate or not in terms of city council setting policy and who has the authority to make those decisions. So I've had that input on one hand. On the other hand, I'm told that the special events policy as proposed does not change anything that we're not already doing. Mr. City Manager, could you convey on that?

Yes, thank you, Council Member Nybert. The community special events policy that's before Council this evening, and this is the second opportunity that Council has had to see this, I think that the probably the most significant change as it relates to the policy is the idea here is that the council will have the opportunity to look at all of these community events uh... at a single point in time during the course of the year so you are correct in your second statement that it is not changing any of these special events It's rather what I would characterize as a procedural change so that the council has the opportunity to view them all at the same time in terms of any logistical or budgetary implications that they might have.

Okay. Thank you for that. And so I guess I would add that the Civic Arts Commission certainly has a, you know, important and profound purpose to serve, including advising the council. And I don't see that as being abridged by this. So that's it. Thank you for the answer.

Do you have any additional clarifying questions of the consent? Okay. Any other council members have clarifying questions on consent? Okay, I have one speaker card on consent, excuse me, two different items on consent. So we'll go in order for item number four. My speaker is Todd Nelson, you'll have three minutes. I have you as item 13, I'll call you.

And also items not on the calendar.

And that will get to public comment on item 20 later for your three minutes there. So you have three minutes for item four, and then I'm going to call you right back for item 13.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor and Council and staff. This item was something that was submitted already by staff without asking you beforehand just because of timing, so this is likely something that we'll have to pay for later. It's a grant application, but there is a local match requirement, and I'm just not sure that we've got the money. On the July 21st consent calendar agenda, you approved an ACTC grant application for 1.1 million for a technology update. This included fiber optics and signal controllers throughout the traffic controllers throughout the city, including Bernal Avenue, like this item. The local match requirement for that one was 375,000. And that was, am I on the right one? Yes, so fund 201 to be requested at a future city council meeting. This Bernal technology upgrade is $2.6 million. Is that on top of the other one? I'm not sure. I don't know how much overlap there is. The local matching requirement for this one is $530,000. This is assumed to come from traffic impact fees. However, on May 19th, the City Council approved a grant for Safe Streets for All. The local matcher requirement for that one was $5 million, of which $3.7 million was traffic impact fees. So is there another $530,000 left over after all of that? At the time, I thought the Safe Streets for All matching was double counted from a previous West Las Positas grant application. All of this accounting should be in your agenda package, but it's not. Someone should verify. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Steph, do you by chance have a response for item number four's question there? Do we know?

Well, my response would be that this particular item, I believe it acknowledges the fact that should the city be able to successfully acquire the grant, it would be necessary to uh provide the 20 match so in the case of both of the applications both of the grants that mr nelson speaks to it's a matter of of the city putting up a certain amount of funding and leveraging those funding leveraging that funding to generate another 80 of dollars that can go toward the projects So all of that, in the case of this application, that would have to occur through our capital improvement program, and we believe that there are funds available to be able to cover the local match. Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, and now moving on to item 13, so that our community understands. Mr. Todd Nelson, three minutes.

Okay. I'm Todd Nelson, thank you, Mayor, Council. As you may recall, I spent two terms on the City's Bike Ped Committee going back to 2016. This item, I'm specifically looking at the item for the West Las Positas project, which is for Mark Thomas. This is the fifth contract extension. Originally the contract went through 2023 and every year since then it's been bumped out again. This time they're asking for two more years and another roughly half million dollars. I'd just like to know what's going on. It seems crazy that every year we're just wrong by another full year. Is there any oversight or is this gonna continue on forever? At the last bike ped committee meeting, they were told that construction was starting to fall, like right now, and in this agenda item, they're saying no, that's gonna probably be next spring. For an organization that has a structural deficit, I would think these half million dollar extensions would have city council wanna ask some questions.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Staff, since West Las Positas has been something you and I have discussed pretty often, city manager, do you have an update or should we ask our traffic engineer to provide us an update on where West Las Positas or city engineer?

Welcome, thank you. Yeah, thank you Mayor Balch. I'm Michael Stella. I'm the City Engineer from the Public Works Department. Happy to answer the question about West Las Positas. So we have a project in the budget that's been ongoing for several years as the Council is well aware, as Mr. Nelson alluded to. We've been actively working on the project. I took over the project in June from a staff member who left the organization. Since that time, I've been evaluating the plans and the budget. We've been looking at a couple different issues to advance the project, one of which is coordination with other agencies, specifically with Zone 7 Water Agency, with Pacific Gas and Electric, both of which have facilities that are impacted by the project. We're also working with the Hacienda Business Park on landscaping issues since we are planning to landscape the corridor with the project, or re-landscape the project, I should say. There have been some budget concerns that we've identified as current staff. We are trying to overcome that through a value engineering process. That process unfortunately takes a little bit of time and it does require changes to the plans that have been prepared thus far. And although we are working very actively on the project, We do have committed staff resources to the project. It is taking some time to go through approximately 200 sheets of plans and identify areas where we could realize cost savings which are necessary to keep the project within the allocated budget. So I hope I've answered the question. I'm happy to answer any further follow-up. I'll bite, I'll ask, when would we start to see construction? So the current plan is to bid the project at the end of this year, and our hope would be to have a contractor on board and under construction in the spring of 2027. And we do expect approximately a two year cycle for construction and that's why the contract that we proposed with the design consultant, the contract amendment rather, extends their contract for an additional two years. So we do acknowledge that this has been a very lengthy process but we want to get it right. This is a large investment for the community and we believe that there's an opportunity to build a really great project but it does unfortunately require a bit of patience.

Okay, any additional questions of Mr Stella?

Yes, I'm still not clear where the half million dollar cost for multiple extensions comes in.

So, as I mentioned, we are going through a value engineering process right now, and it does, there's essentially two issues. First, the consultants spent, allocated more time to changes that were authorized by prior staff, and they overspent the allocation for the project, so there is a need to to fund work that has already been accomplished, and then, as I mentioned, there's work yet to do. Now, we do believe that the current estimate from the consultant is conservative, and we did that intentionally because we realize that we've been to the council requesting funds for four times in the past, and we want to make a commitment to the council with this allocation, we will have sufficient funds to complete the design and bid the project. We're hoping that through this extra effort, it will be a successful project with few change orders, et cetera.

Funds to bid the project, design and build. I mean, design and bid, but not build. We're still not fully funded on the build.

We're not. So we went through a very detailed budget analysis in June, and there has been approximately $27 million allocated to the project. The current estimate for the design that I received in June is $33 million. So we are $6 million over the allocated budget. So in order to stay within our budget, within those budget constraints, there's a need to reevaluate different project elements, and we believe through that reanalysis we can find cost savings and bring the project back into the allocated budget without sacrificing the multimodal improvements that we've committed to, and those include new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, as well as dealing with the undulating pavement out there that's been a problem for a variety of reasons for many years.

One more question. You said it will be about a two-year build project. It will then create disruption, but it will not close the road down for that period of time, right?

That's correct, yeah. We believe we have enough roadway width to move traffic in and out of the construction zones without completely closing the roads. Now, there may be elements that we choose to do as what we call night work, but those are specialized operations that typically only take a day or two.

Okay. All right. Thank you. No more questions.

Okay. Any additional questions on the consent calendar at this time? Thank you very much, Mr. Sella. Okay. No further questions and no further public comment on this item. If you would like to speak on the consent calendar and have not turned in a blue speaker card, please go ahead and approach the podium at this time. Seeing none, any online staff? Do I need a...

There are no speakers.

Thank you very much. Okay. We'll close public comment and bring it back. What would the council like to do on consent consisting of items 1 through 17, not including item 8 nor 10?

I would like to, I will be voting no on five and six, but I don't think it needs to be pulled. So just want to make that clarification. Okay.

I'm looking for a motion though.

I'll make a motion. Okay, go ahead. I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar or consent items.

Looking for a second.

I'll second with the no vote on five and six for me.

Okay. We have a motion made and seconded. Any further comments?

I would like to comment on why I'm voting no on five and six, and those are, that is, rezoning of sites for residential units to be incorporated in our city's housing element. And I'm voting no because I feel that I know that we had a sufficient number of units to satisfy our RENA requirements without these units and really felt that we should not have included them for additional units.

Okay, thank you. Any further comments? I'll just mention for those many of you in the room, this will be the vote to appoint city commission and committee members. I just maybe if you know there was 74 applicants. For 23 spots available, I want to just say thank you for showing up for Pleasanton. It means a lot to have your voice. I will also mention that I, too, was in your chair 18 years ago, so watch where you go. With that, roll call vote, please.

Councilmember Eicher?

Aye.

Testa?

Aye.

Nybert? Aye. Mayor Balch?

Proudly, aye.

The motion passes unanimously. Outstanding. Thank you. Noting that no votes on five and six for Councilmember Testa.

Sorry. I apologize for cutting you off. Okay, and now we get to move to the thing that makes you have trust in public government. We are moving to item 18, which is the oath for new committee and commission members. Again, thank you for your service, and I believe this is you, city clerk, correct?

Yes, so we'll just ask all of our appointees to come to the front when your name is called, please. For the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Committee, we have Ernie Rogers and EA Palmer. If you're here, please come to the front. And we also have for the Civic Arts Commission, Mary Ann Simmons, Julia Lewis, Christina Gray, and Emily Wang.

You can come right here if you would like.

All the way to the front.

Yeah, you're going to make a horseshoe.

All the way in. For Economic Vitality Committee, we have Ruby Soleimani. For the Human Services Commission, we have Mary Jane Badeghi, Melanie Hayes, Seema Shala, Pinky Mukherjee, and Yashvi Jaladi.

No worries. It's going to take you. There's 23 of you.

For Library Commission, we have Sophia Wang. For Planning Commission, we have Ken Morgan and Joe Carlucci. For Youth Commission, this is a large group, so please make room at the front. We have Finn McShane, Tanya Jane, Sasha Satish, Anika Multani, Agostia Chandel, Elias Sayar, Jayden Bawa, Abby Shaw, and Kaya Kundy.

Oh, maybe we should have made a second row. I don't know.

If we could get closer shoulder to shoulder. If you're able to just squeeze in a little bit closer.

Thank you. So go ahead and administer the oath altogether. So I'm going to ask if everyone can please raise their right hand like this and then repeat after me. I state your name. Do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of California. against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations. Thank you so much. And I think we'd love to have a photo with all of you and the city council.

Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to do two rows so that your moms and dads and kids can see, and then we'll stand behind you so you're here. So, yeah, so come fill in like two rows so that we're all facing forward. We're just making a couple rows so that if we can take a picture. Yes, we can see everyone's faces with the city council.

Tall people in the back.

Elias, you've got to move to the back. You're tall. Who behind your mom? There you go. Okay. All right.

Okay, ready?

One, two, three. And one, two, three.

Okay, so parents. Any other photos before we break? Congratulations, Democracy in Action. Thank you so much.

And then before you leave this evening, can you please make sure to sign your oath of office? We'll meet you right in the lobby right here. Thank you.

Okay. Truly some of the best things to be able to see and witness. The next couple of items are proclamations. We sometimes have a few, sometimes we have none, but tonight we have two. And with that, we're going to proceed to item number 19, presentation of a proclamation recognizing September 2026 as Hunger Awareness Month. Councilmember Eicher, I believe you're reading them for me.

Yes. Can I have Shadab Ilko come up? And if you can just stand at the podium and I'll read the proclamation. Shadab is with Tri-Valley Haven. So the City of Pleasanton proclaimed September 2026 as Hunger Action Month, whereas Hunger Action Month is a nationwide effort to raise awareness of food insecurity and inspire action to help ensure individuals and families have access to nutritious food, and whereas food insecurity continues to affect individuals and families throughout our communities, particularly as the high cost of living can require households to make difficult choices between food, housing, healthcare, and other essential needs, and whereas local food pantries, nonprofit organizations, Community partners and volunteers all play an important role in addressing immediate needs while working toward long-term solutions that strengthen access to nutritious and culinary appropriate food. And whereas organizations and partners throughout Alameda County, including those partnering in Countywide Food Sovereignty Roundtable, are working collectively and collaboratively to strengthen the local food system through food production, rescue, aggregation, distribution, emergency response, workforce development, and other coordinated efforts. And whereas the city of Pleasanton recognizes the individuals and families experiencing food insecurity, and encourages residents to support organizations working to address hunger through volunteering, donating, and other forms of community involvement. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the City of Pleasanton City Council does hereby proclaim September 2026 as Hunger Action Month and encourages the Pleasanton community to learn more about food insecurity, support local efforts to address hunger and help ensure that all members of our community have access to the food and resources they need. Dated this 15th day of September, 2026.

Would you like to say a few words, please?

Absolutely. Thank you, Council Member Isher and Mayor Balch. Tri-Valley Haven, the pantry is a very important community resource for the Tri-Valley. We serve the cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, and Dublin, and we roughly serve about 50 households daily. We are the only pantry that's open six days a week. And a lot of our produce that we distribute comes from grocery rescue. We rescue about 30,000 pounds of produce every month from 13 grocery stores all over the Tri-Valley. And then we also operate about six pop-ups around the Tri-Valley. So it really helps community donations. My food pantry manager always says sugar, flour, and oil are the staples that we always run out of. And, of course, protein products like milk and dairy and meats. So, you know, we really count on our community for support, and thank you for supporting us.

Thank you very much. Okay, we'll come down and take a photo.

One, two, three.

Okay. And now we're going to proceed to item number 20, presentation of a proclamation in honor of Hively's 50th anniversary. So I think we're going to read it first, Mary, and then we'll have you a first. Okay. Or a second. Okay. So council member Eicher, if you don't mind again, please. Yes.

So we have, uh, Mary Heckle, the CEO of Hively. And I, do you have a Jaspreet Kahatra here also? So the city of Pleasanton recognizes in honor of Hively's 50th anniversary, whereas Hively is a Pleasanton-based nonprofit organization that has served children, families, and child care providers throughout the Alameda County for over 50 years. Beginning in 1976, has resources for family development in the Livermore Valley, and whereas over five decades, Hively has evolved to meet the changing needs of the community, becoming childcare links, and in 2019, joining with Family Service Counseling and Community Resource Center and adopting the name Hively. There's a lot of big words in here. Whereas Hively strengthens children and families by connecting them with essential resources including childcare support, mental health services, family resource centers, community education, and assistance accessing vital benefits and services. And whereas through outreach initiatives such as Hive on Wheels, highly bringing resources directly into neighborhoods, helping families access essential items, information, and the support where they live, work, and gather. And whereas Hiley's 50th anniversary theme, quote, thriving together, unquote, celebrates five decades of partnership and community impact while recognizing its continued commitment to helping children and families in Pleasanton throughout the Alameda County. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Pleasanton City Council does hereby recognize and celebrate Hively's 50th anniversary and extends its appreciation for 50 years of dedicated service to children, families, and childcare providers in Pleasanton and throughout Alameda County, dated this 15th day of September, 2026. Congratulations.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Would you like to say a few words?

Yes, I would love to. You mentioned a lot of the highlights, but just good evening, council members and mayor and community. My name is Mary Heckle, CEO of Hively. And on behalf of everyone at Hively, we just want to thank you for this honor. As you mentioned, we started in 1976 in a garage in Livermore, and we've called Pleasanton our headquarters for over 25 years. We started with the idea that this is an economic driver and something that families need to prosper in the Tri-Valley and Alameda County. Quality, affordable childcare and providers need to have access to quality training and assistance in creating these businesses for these childcare slots. We have listened to community needs throughout the 50 years and have evolved the services beyond just childcare subsidies and helping connect families to childcare providers. And now we have a web of services from, as you mentioned, our Hive on Wheels, to our family resource centers. We have one here in Pleasanton right across from Stone Ridge Mall where we give out free diapers, wipes, donated clothes, library books, and canned goods. To give you a flavor of how we've served the community in the past year, We have over 4,000 children receive childcare subsidies throughout Alameda County. We passed through about $40 million to childcare providers for those services. We've provided 7,000 outpatient mental health appointments and have touched over 10,000 community members with various services. And so, as I said, we really, we call Pleasanton our home. This is our headquarters where we do all of our good work for Alameda County and we're celebrating our 50 years with a celebration on October 9th, I'll say it again, October 9th at the Shannon Community Center where we'll celebrate and would love to invite you all to attend as well as all of our community members. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

We'll put you in the middle.

okay thank you very much uh also a great feel-good element okay so we're going to be proceeding to item number 21 this is public comment on items that are not listed on the agenda speakers will be limited to three minutes i have a thing i'd like to read Probably would have helped a little earlier, but I'll do it now. So good evening and welcome. This is opportunity for members of the public to address the Pleasanton City Council on any matters that are within the council's subject matter jurisdiction but are not listed on the agenda. If you wish to speak for a matter that is on the agenda, such as the Muirwood policy, please reserve your comments for when we get to that item. Members of the public may be joining us in person. If you wish to speak now or for that future item, please fill out a blue speaker card and turn them in. They are outside and you can turn them into the city clerk. For members of the public joining us virtually, please use the raise hand feature on your phone by pressing star nine at this time when the item number is called or when the item number is called. You will be unmuted when your name is called. I ask that all community members be respectful and help maintain decorum. Speakers may have different opinions, and we want to hear all perspectives and viewpoints. To that end, no clapping, booing, or other disturbances, please. In the interest of time, if you agree with the speaker before you, you may simply say you agree, and you don't need to utilize your full three minutes. If you would like to show your support with what the current speaker is saying, you may simply raise your hand, and we will see that as additional support. Lastly, please know that this is your time to be heard. If you do ask a question, those won't necessarily be answered unless taken up by a council member after the conclusion of your allotted time or the total public comment period. Speakers are hereby limited to three minutes and I appreciate your cooperation with that. We have a few speakers for items not on the agenda, so I'll call three of them at a time, and if number two and three could line up near the wall to help us facilitate, that'd be appreciated. My first speaker is T.J. McGrath, followed by Ms. Patty Recuperdo, followed by Todd Nelson. And three minutes, yep. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and support staff. My name is TJ McGrath, and I am a proud 40-year resident of Pleasanton. My wife and I raised our children in this town, and then we decided to retire here. I was raised my whole life to believe there are three kinds of people in the world. There are those that watch things happen, there are those that make things happen, and there are those that wonder what the hell happened. I am now retired from sales and marketing in the food industry, and I believe that my career was successful because I worked for companies that made things happen. Within the food industry, the consumer is king. You fight with your competition for their business. You also try and influence the consumer over the competitors with new products, new packaging, and you fight to keep them loyal to you. Within Pleasanton, we have many of the same similarities. The city offers current and potential new residents a quality of life that cannot be matched in other cities. Naturally, this includes city services, schools, convenience to transportation, and of course, safety. Just like that in the food industry, I try and be proactive. planning ahead what I did a few months ago as I sent a proposal to a few people in this room and they said we need to create a safety program. Now as I understand it, we had more crime last week in one day than we've had all year. So I think the residents in this town would love to have a program that deters crime. And I'm not saying that my program would have eliminated crimes last week. but the criminals would know that they're exposed and that somebody's gonna turn them in. And until such time as technology can read somebody's face behind the mask, and that's coming, that'll be a game changer, I offer to you a safety program which is a crime deterrent on one of three areas. We either call it a witness reward program, or we call it a see something, say something good citizen program, or we call it a silent witness incentive program. Local businesses can fund this by gift cards. There's a benefit for them. And the city can also look to businesses here the same way. Either way, we're making the statement to the criminals, don't mess with Pleasanton. That's important. In conclusion, last year I stopped by the Verizon store in Bernal. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday, the door was locked. He came to the door and he said to me, I said, why is it locked? Are you doing business? And he said, yes, we're close to the freeway. And when you're close to a freeway in Pleasanton, you're open for theft and a clean getaway. And that was a real eye-opener for me. So according to my research as of today,

I apologize. Pleasanton had. I apologize. You're out of time. I am. Okay. Thank you very much.

Well, we had 81,000 residents in Pleasanton. I'm sorry. And we have 75,000 now.

Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Ms. Recupero, followed by Todd Nelson, followed by Jamie Yee. Welcome.

for allowing me to talk today.

Could you speak into the mic? I'm sorry, could you adjust it? Is that better? Yeah, thank you. Okay, sorry, can you hear me okay? Now we can, thank you. Okay, cool.

All right, so I'm Patty Recupero, and I'm here because I have a neighbor that's building a huge house behind me. It's been going on for almost five years. I know that Mayor has driven by it. I know that Councilman Eicher has seen it, and there's been a lot of issues with it, and I don't want to go down that path. But I did send you all an email highlighting those issues on September 3rd. I've also included that in a packet today with pictures so you can vision what's going on if you see how close his roof overhang is to my narrow backyard and my fence. We have two houses, mine's much smaller than his, that run parallel to one another. I have a narrow backyard. He installed lights in November of 25 that were not part of the approved plans. The lights run the full length of the roof overhang following my fence line. They're about five to six feet apart. When you put all those lights on, it looks like a commercial building. and i'm not okay with this i have tried to use the proper channels through the city to say please can we not approve this and it's over my fence line so i just got my appeal denied today from ellen clark and in there is the letter and she's saying that i can reach out to you i am seeking your help i'm over this now the newest issue is that he's installed cameras 360 degree cameras that overlook my driveway, my backyard. Why is that okay? I feel like I have peeping Tom now. It's bad enough the house is so close to my property that I've got him viewing me, what I'm doing, coming and going. So tell me what I can do. I don't know what's being captured. I don't know if it's audio, I don't know if it's video, but this is going on for way too long. I'm almost five years now. There is a billing permit that was set up for this house. It's not being followed a lot of times. Construction's happening six days a week, sometimes at night, at 10 o'clock at night. I have sent that information with video because that's what code enforcement told me to do. And it still goes on. They're there tonight. So tell me what I should do. Please help me.

Ms. Recupero, this is unfortunately your time to address the council, and it's not a back and forth.

So it says in the review, the appeal letter that I received that said that it's not reviewable, it's not appealable. It says I can reach out to city council. Can you guys review it?

I would like to ask staff to respond.

Well, it's her time still. I apologize. Ms. Rucubara, are you completed? I am completed. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Staff, code enforcement is working on this, as I recall. Can staff help us understand?

Well I'm looking at the letter that Ms. Recupero is referring to. So this information has previously been submitted to the city staff and without getting into the issues With the exception of the exterior lighting the exterior lighting is the issue that was brought forward most recently This is an issue that was a condition of approval that went along with the permit that was issued it called for an administrative review of the lighting that was installed and It is recessed soffit lighting. There are photos that are included in the packet. In any event, what staff indicated to Ms. Recupero is that this wasn't a decision of the Zoning Administrator or the Planning Commission and it therefore is not something that is appealable to the City Council. So I will certainly defer to our city attorney on this, but the recourse that Ms. Recupero has is a civil one at this point.

So I'm sorry, if you.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Ms. Recupero, your time is done. So yeah, not a back and forth here. Okay, got it. City attorney, do you mind elaborating further?

Yeah, yes, as the city manager pointed out, only certain formal actions of the zoning administrator are subject to review or appeal. This is not one of them. I'd be happy to follow up in more detail with the council since this isn't on the agenda.

Okay. Thank you very much at this time. We're going to continue on, and I will make sure I reach out to learn more myself as well. Okay. My next three speakers are Mr. Todd Nelson, followed by Jamie Yee, followed by Ken Benamou. Welcome.

Thank you for letting me speak again. I am expressing my concern about the bike pad master plan that is currently in development. We are almost done, and I was surprised at the last meeting when the consultant presented their draft proposals. For me, my vision is to have a comfortable way to ride within the city. I want to be able to stop and chat with people along the way, maybe say hi to their dog, and take a little shortcut so I don't have to ride on busy streets. I don't want to be next to fast cars, smell their exhaust, or worry about making a left turn on a four lane street. But the master plan consultant didn't ask me that. They were specifically told to ignore trails and residential streets and just focus on the busy ones. No one wants to ride on these busy streets, but they just don't have a choice sometimes. Shouldn't we consider projects that might give people another choice? If passed as prologue, these busy street projects will cost tens of millions of dollars and take decades to build. Any kid in town today will be off at college before anything improves. We've been talking about West Las Positas since 2010. I think the initial outreach failed to reach enough people. I gave dozens of suggestions, but no one did anything. I think the surveys were skewed to get the answers they wanted. I think the previous master plan had good intentions, but no one is assessing what went wrong. This plan will probably have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects like the last one did, but no one is recommending what could be done with the likely funding that we're going to get in the next five years. And as I've said the previous times I was up here, I'm not sure how much money has already been allocated from our future expenses for bike ped projects. I don't know what's left. If the final plan looks like the draft, then I will recommend to City Council they reject it. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. My next speaker is Ms. Jamie Yee, followed by Ken Venamoo. That will be my last speaker card. If you are interested in speaking on a matter not on the agenda, please turn in a card at this time. Thank you.

okay hi good evening mayor and council members i am jamie yee and i'm also candidate for city council district 3 and a 50 plus year resident of pleasonton i wanted to follow up on the rodent issue that i previously brought up that we raised around the oak vista neighborhood The more I learn, the more we need a broader plan and especially given how rodents reproduce. I just want to offer that I'm happy to help organize meeting with the city, the Alameda County Vector Control and the affected residents to and maybe even secure a location to promote and promote the meeting so that we can have some results. The question is really straightforward. What can the city do? What can Vector Control do? What can the residents do? And how do we combine these efforts into a plan that works? Since this isn't just an Oak Vista problem, perhaps we could use this as a pilot so that we can identify where we can apply these lessons and use them citywide in neighborhoods across Pleasanton, as this rodent issue is a citywide problem. So please let me know how I can be helpful. I'm happy to help. I want to shift a little bit to a comment about youth involvement. Youth development's always been really important to me, both personally and professionally. And in my past professional work in Alameda County, I worked directly with young people and saw firsthand the value of creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate, develop leadership skills, create policies, and have their voices heard. That experience is always with me. When I served on the POSD school board, I advocated ferociously for a student board member, a position that remains in place today and has benefited the district. I'd like to see the city consider something similar, high school and or community college students serving as non-voting members of the city council. There are many examples of cities that have created a position along these lines. Cloverdale has a really good example. Other cities include Woodlake, Monrovia, Laguna Hills, and Sacramento. This would not be a youth advisory committee or simply an advisory board. The students would attend city council meetings, participate in discussions and have formal non-voting seat at the dais while elected council members would still retain their voting authority. It doesn't need to be a year-long commitment. A quarterly rotation could give three or four students the experience for the year. I understand this would require staff time, so I'm not suggesting that this happen immediately, but I think it's worth exploring, and I'm happy to help create the model. People often mention how to lift up the voices of young people, and one of the best ways to do that is to give them a seat at the table. They bring perspectives we would not otherwise hear while learning firsthand how local government works. Many of you know Derek Dressler. He was one of our student board members on POSD and now clerks for one of these Supreme Court justices. Please let me know how I can help and thank you for listening in your time.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Ken Benamu.

welcome thank you thank you mayor and council members my name is ken benamu i own sas german auto here in pleasonton owned it for over 35 years i also serve on the city's economic vitality committee as a chairperson and i'm also helping co-chair with jamie yee who is a candidate for city council district 3. we're co-chairing this year's porsche's on main event along with the port the diablo region of the porsche club of america I'd like to invite everyone to join us in downtown Pleasanton on Sunday, October 4th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event is a great partnership between the Pleasanton Downtown Association and the Diablo Region of the Porsche Club of America, with support from the city and our downtown community. This is the fourth year of Porsches on Main. Last year, we had approximately 10,000 spectators, and we're looking forward to another fantastic turnout this year. Main Street will be filled with Porsches representing generations from the mark, from some truly remarkable vintage to rarely seen cars and the newest modern Porsches and just about everything in between. We already have over 210 cars registered for this event. On display directly in front of the museum on Main will be Museum Row, and we'll have a selection of turbo models that'll coincide with the evolution of the turbo technology as Porsche celebrates its 50th anniversary of producing turbocharged cars. Strange at Hively is also 50 years. right along with the Porsche turbocharged cars. Anyway, this year we're also gonna have a People's Choice Award. Visitors will be able to scan a QR code at the event and vote right from their phones for their favorite Porsche. And Mayor Balch, you're gonna have a difficult job that day as well. You'll be selecting the recipient of the Mayor's Award. You'll be assisted by students from Foothill High School Racing Team. More importantly, this is an opportunity to enjoy our downtown. So we encourage everyone who plans to have lunch or breakfast while they're here, make a restaurant reservation in advance because that helps the restaurants prepare for what we hope will be another very busy day. So please come down October 4th, support local businesses, and spend the day with us enjoying the beauty, history, and engineering of some truly amazing sports cars. We look forward to seeing everyone. Porsches on Main.

thank you very much okay that was my last speaker card for items not on the agenda if you would like to speak on an item that is not on the agenda and have not turned in a blue speaker card please do so at this time hearing none seen none any online clerk we do have a speaker uh reena gupta you can please unmute and speak at this time hi uh can you hear me yes we can

Okay, thank you. Good evening, Mayor, council members, and all attendees. I am Reena Gupta, candidate for City Council District 3, continuing my commitment to bring resident voices directly to City Hall. I'm proud to share that in a very short period of time, I have collected over 100 resident voices through Farmers Market, listening tours, and my website. As always, these are resident voices I'm sharing. They do not necessarily represent my personal opinions or positions. Several residents raised concerns about fairness and consistency in business regulation and enforcement. One specifically compared brick and mortar restaurants with a Mexican food shack, questioning whether temporary or informal food operations are being held to the same health, sanitation, tax, and regulatory requirements as permanent restaurants. Residents also specifically raised concerns about some Indian grocery stores, including merchandise, business activity, extending it to sidewalk areas, cleanliness and sanitation, and in one case, concern about rodents. Their demand is for consistent enforcement of same rules across businesses. Another resident raised the increasing cost of operating a small business in Pleasanton, particularly rising rents and NNN expenses, on top of increasing food, labor and tax costs. As they put it, Tri-Valley retail space leases are insanely high and keep growing. Another resident is calling on Pleasanton to establish a train-quiet zone. Residents from Carlton Oaks and Pheasant Ridge are asking for shade over existing benches at Fawn Hills Park, particularly so seniors can safely use the park during hot summer months. They said this request was made two to three years ago and still has not been addressed. Thank you everyone who shared their voice and I want to end up with something I have been reminding residents as I talk with them. Who is at the top of our city's org chart? It's the residents and they will like to share their voices for anyone who wants to share your voice please please pick up your magnetic civic access card at farmers market or submit your voice at renaforpleasantin.com thank you

Okay, any additional speakers online at this time?

No other speakers.

Okay, we will be closing public comment on item number 21. Thank you very much. Okay, now we're going to proceed to public hearing and other matters. Thank you for staying with us. So we're going to take up item 21B, formerly known as item 10, for those in the room. As you might have seen during the meeting item before us, we ask that you help us maintain decorum. We'd like to hear all perspectives and viewpoints. It will be about three minutes. We're going to go ahead and have staff give us a brief presentation on the item. Council will ask some questions. We'll open it up for public comment, and then we can bring it back for deliberation. So that's kind of the process. So with that, staff, item number 21B, formerly known as item 10, let me introduce, read it in, approve a reservation system for Moorwood Community Park Pickleball Courts.

Yep. Just a moment.

Yeah, no problem. All right.

There we go. All right. Well, we're going to turn this over to Leah, who is here this evening to help us with this, Mr. Mayor and City Council. As you know, not to take anything away from Leah, but Heidi Murphy is a new grandma, and some of us have seen the photos, so we congratulate Heidi, and we appreciate Leah being here this evening. So Leah, can you hit the high points for us, please?

Absolutely. Thank you. Good evening, community members. Thank you for being here. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. This evening we're just going to provide a broad overview of the Pickleball Reservation System and respond to questions. This particular item came first to the Parks and Recreation Commission. It was agendized raised by a commissioner and staff took the matter forward and provided a recommendation with two options for the Parks and Rec Commission. And really this came about as a result of a high level of use of the Muir-Royard pickleball courts. as well as the idea that there was a higher resident versus non-resident ratio at the time. Moving forward, in August, Parks and Recreation was presented with the two reservation options. Option one included fees for both residents and non-residents, and then option two included fees only for non-residents. This is moving to a reservation model for three of the six pickleball courts at Muirwood, which are extremely popular as we'll come to here in a bit here. Commissioners unanimously recommended option one, which we're going to see on the next screen. and rec and the Parks and Rec Commission as well as the staff recommendation allowed for three court reservations. So this would equate to 700 reservable spots over the course of a month with the potential for 7,000 slots per year. That $700 per month stretched out over about 10 months. The idea is that 12 months may not be fully reservable due to inclement weather changes, resurfacing, maintenance, and then the three courts would remain for open free play at Muirwood. And then the fee that was recommended was $6 per hour at a resident rate, and then $7.50 for a non-resident rate per hour. And that is based on sort of a 25% increase across all recreation programs and services of about 25%. The revenue generation projected, while it's difficult to project precisely, is at 30,000 per year. Obviously, staff and the analysis and commissioners did identify benefits and challenges. It would be significant revenue that would help to primarily offset court maintenance as well as some of the ongoing costs, things related to trash, blowers to clean off the courts, maintenance of the paddle racks as well, and the resurfacing that does have to happen periodically. There's also It would provide as a benefit guaranteed times and dates for players. However, it may limit non-residents due to the higher fees. What was established as a proposal was that each account or each player that sets up an account in the software tool can reserve one court for one hour per day. Residents can reserve up to seven days in advance and non-residents five days in advance. So the questions that we received have been really good. So staff has provided some information, but I would anticipate there would be further questions as well. In terms of the reservation system, a common question was, how will it be monitored? So reservations, just to give a little context, would be made through a software called Civic Rec that's used for all recreation programming. And it's fairly easy to use. It has a mobile-friendly version. It can be done online. It can be done even over the phone with staff at any of our four facilities that take reservations or in person as well. And the concept was that players would self-regulate and they would also, you know, they do this with our picnic rentals as well as our park rentals. And it would be similar to the sort of self-regulation system that is happening on the courts now. And then I think another good question was what are the maintenance costs for the courts currently? And it is approximately $31,000 a year that was provided by our parks division. And as mentioned, for some of those routine maintenance tasks. And then lastly, what problem is a reservation system solving? So it's always good to ask, you know, what is the, you know, is this a sort of a solution in search of a problem? And neighbors have complained that the courts have been opened, since they've been opened, there's been a lot more traffic and noise. They're very, very popular. And also players have mentioned long wait times and groups not always being able to play together. So for those familiar with pickleball, which I think most are at this point, it's four players and many players like to play as a group. So this reservation system would allow for that play together. And then in the last slide, we'll just kind of go over the timing of the reservations. And that was another question that came to staff. And reservations would be available from dawn till dusk. That mirrors the hours of the park. And that's, again, three of the six courts. So 50% of the courts would be reservable. and reservations would be available through the Civic Rec registration system. Players would need to create an account if they did not already have one to make a reservation. I looked at the software tool today, and you can view where the reservations are and what's available. Residents would also be able to make reservations seven days in advance, as mentioned, and non-residents five. And as seasons change and weather becomes prohibitive, you know, obviously reservations would be blocked and unavailable. And that's projected to yield 700 reservations per month. So with that, I know that's a really broad overview. There's probably a lot of other information. I look forward to hearing from community members, and we're also happy to answer questions.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. And with that, we'll go to clarifying questions by my fellow council members. Council Member Eicher, you polled it. Clarifying questions, and we'll start with you.

Yeah, I'm going to start off with something that you just brought up. So inclement weather, we block the site. So does that mean people can't use it or they just can't make a reservation for it?

It would be closed, I think, is the concept. So the park is closed? The courts would be closed, and that would be the case if there were damage to the courts or it was deemed unsafe.

Okay. So when the Park and Recs Commission heard this, because it was brought up by a commissioner, what was the process they went through to come to this conclusion? Do you know? I mean, you may not have been there, so you may not have an answer to that.

I, yes, I do not know the specific process. I know that it was under matters initiated and the, you know, with that, then of course the commission, you know, voted, you know, majority vote to approve. Yeah, and then staff would bring back a report is typically the process, but for this specific matter, I, you know, there was an opportunity for public comment at that meeting. as well, where it was brought forward in August. And beyond that, I don't know if there's other city staff here that have more details on the process. That's my understanding.

We don't, not having the right people here makes it hard to have have a conversation about this. I guess the second item is, it was open for public comment. How well advertised was this issue? And what did the public comment turnout look like? I mean, did the community come out? I know council or at least I've seen probably close to 75 responses in regards to this issue the vast majority not wanting it and I feel that there's no way the Parks and Rec Commission had that opportunity to get that level of input which is why I'm considering sending it back to them now that we have a lot of input so they can see that and people have the ability to directly have a conversation with them about what their concerns and needs are as opposed to this body making that determination because it will come back before us for a final decision um so so the question piece of it is is do you do you really understand what the turnout looked like for the when the decision making process was made for the parks commission

Well, Council Member Eichert, I wasn't there either. What I understood is that there was minimal public input at the meeting. The staff did reach out to the Tri-Valley Pickleball Club to solicit input, but I do not believe there was any sort of public notification that was sent out other than the matter appearing on the posted agenda for that commission. So suffice it to say, the council has received considerably more feedback in response to this appearing on your agenda than the commission did when it appeared on theirs. Thank you.

Could I just follow up, Council Member Eicker, on your? Yeah. Yeah, so if I just can clarify with staff. So outreach was our standard noticing of a public meeting, I presume, for that. But did we put a sign out at the Muirwood Court saying there will be a public meeting at our Park and Rec Commission to talk about the courts? Did we? Sorry, apologize if we can still. Thank you for helping me maintain decorum. Staff, if you don't mind answering that.

I apologize. I do not have that information.

Okay. Okay. Uh, thank you for letting me jump on councilman Riker and that's all I had. Council member Testa.

Um, so how has our community become aware of this topic? When did that notice happen? because clearly they've become very aware of it. We've been hearing quite a lot.

Yeah, the staff hasn't taken any extraordinary measures to notify individuals other than saying, the matter appearing on the council agenda and having posted it well in advance. So I am going to surmise that the way that individuals have become aware of it has been through communication among pickleball players that use the facility and sharing information in that way.

Right. Word of mouth. But I'm still trying to understand the origin of the word of mouth because there was some posting because you all heard about it somehow before I did. So it wasn't about being on our agenda because I was hearing feedback before it hit our agenda. So I'm not quite sure where that notice came from that ended up on the courts, but there's certainly been plenty of notice and awareness in the community. The discussions have been happening. I have personally heard an awful lot of those discussions. Hello. Yeah, okay. I got to know a lot of you over the last few weeks. And I guess my point is, and I'll save my comments for later, but just no decision has been made. And so a decision was not made without our community input. So that's what we're doing tonight. I'll save my comments for later.

Any further clarifying questions, Council Member Testa? Okay. Council Member Nyberg?

Just a couple questions on what you mentioned during your short presentation. You mentioned the, I think the figure was $31,000 of annual maintenance. Is that just for the Mirwood courts?

Yes, that's correct. That is my understanding.

Okay. And when the courts are closed for inclement weather, is the gate locked? Does someone go out there in advance of that forecast and lock the gates?

I don't know the exact procedure for closing a court. I do see our Parks Division is still here this evening, so I may... Welcome, Giacomo.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. I'm Giacomo DeMonte, the Parks Division Manager. The pickleball courts are not closed at any time, so staff does not go out and close them if there's rain or a threat of rain or... really under any weather circumstance. So unless we're doing maintenance that causes the courts to be closed, they'll remain open during all types of weather. Yeah. If you want to play pickleball in the rain, I guess it's your prerogative. You can do that.

Okay. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. And the slide, I think, also mentioned that one of the problems intended to be addressed was traffic and noise. Correct? Can you offer how that would be addressed?

Yes, thank you. We don't have data to provide at this point on the traffic and noise. There has been, you know, this is more anecdotal that perhaps there are 60 to 70 individuals over the course of a day waiting to use a court as well as additional noise and cars since the opening of the pickleball courts. They're getting a lot of use and it does make sense that individuals would need a place to park, but I don't have precise data around from a traffic perspective on that.

I would think that under either approach, there wouldn't be much difference.

Oh, yes. So in terms of would it be alleviated by a reservation system, I think it's hard to say definitively that it would, but there might be a chance if there were not an opportunity to play and an individual was interested in only the reservation system, then it would, in essence, stretch out the use of the course throughout the day to a time that a slot was available. Again, a lot of this is projections, and we don't have, you know, we haven't tried it yet, so it's hard to say what revenue, what reservations would actually look like.

And just last, you mentioned the Civic Rec app for making or tracking reservations. Is that currently in use for Pickleball at Lifetime at the tennis park?

I don't know. Lifetime Activities, I apologize. It is, Lifetime Activities does manage the tennis and community park and the pickleball and tennis reservations. I, you know, I do see someone coming for, no. I was going to say there might be someone with an answer to that. I believe they utilize their own system because Lifetime also has a presence in, for instance, Sunnyvale and other cities. But what it is used for that we can point to as an example is that it's used for our picnic reservations currently, which are kind of self-reservation system. And so it has sort of the style of a hotel calendar where you can see the color date and what is available and click on it and see what slots are left in. and that would be a system that we would set up if this were something to move forward with.

Okay, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, and good questions as well. I have just a few I'll add. Do you know, and I appreciate you pinching in here and helping us with this, do you know if the Park and Rec Commission discussed if only a half a day should be in the reservation system, for example, the mornings or the afternoons versus the all-day time slot?

I do not believe that particular option was explored.

Okay. Or like the number of days, Monday, you know, maybe if they only want to do three days a week or something like that, correct?

Correct. I don't believe that was explored.

Okay. And then I do want to ask, as a former Park and Rec Commissioner, there used to be the sports council that helps field allocation for our soccer, baseball teams. So they get together based on our, partner organizations, Rage, Ballistic, and allocate those fields, correct? And so that exercise of reserving fields for a particular sports group is something we're familiar with. We still do that, right?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay. I think that's all my questions as well. You answered, and I'll just confirm, max concurrent reservations that a resident or nonresident could be would be one court for one hour per day, correct? Correct.

that's correct now if let's say there was a four-player group of pickleball then each player could you know conceivably conceivably book you know four hours i think that's a long pickleball session but it you know back to potentially possible if it were available thank you for the clarification okay uh any further questions before i open it up to public comments okay okay so councilman roger sorry sorry about that um

Never mind. I'm going to save it for comment.

OK, sounds good. So now for our community members here, thank you for coming down. Thank you for being part of the process. Similar to the prior items, I'll try to call three names. You'll have three minutes. Please try to be concise. Again, if you would like to support what the prior speaker is saying, or the current speaker, excuse me, you can simply raise your hand and we'll additionally understand that as additional support. I will mention, and this is why it's so important to maintain decorum, I have had conversations with people on both sides of this issue. And so we do want to hear from all our community members. So I do ask for the ultimate respect to your neighbor. Some of you know these courts a lot better than the rest of us. So we appreciate the feedback and input. You might be able to know where a particular council member is going with his work, but we'll hear what you would like to say since you've come down. So with that, are you ready, city clerk? Yeah? Okay. Our first speaker is Neil Gertieres, followed by Yash Rakeshan, followed by Alan Chan.

Welcome. Thank you. Hello, Mayor, City Council. My name is Neil Gutierrez and I've had the privilege of living in Pleasanton since 2014. First, I'd like to thank all of you for even having a chance to speak about the reservation system in Muirwood Park. Back in 2021, the community reached out to you through mass emails and speaking at the City Council meeting to approve the conversion of two tennis courts to pickleball courts in Muirwood. You heard the community with the overwhelming amount of feedback and approved this conversion with the courts being built the following year in 2022. On August 13th, Parks and Recreation held a meeting regarding the reservation system due to the high demand for courts and quote, make sure that there is equitable play available. Commissioner Hall who played at Muirwood also commented that there are oftentimes 60 to 70 people waiting in the morning. So to play, you would theoretically be spending an hour and a half to two hours to play for 15 minute games. Long wait times Commissioner Hall refers to is typically Saturday mornings. The majority of other times in the morning and evening are 40 to 50 people with wait times around 10 to 20 minutes. What the Parks and Recreation failed to realize is that the reservation system is going against the Pleasanton Citywide Strategic Plan of building a community where everyone belongs. You are now excluding the community by limiting the courts to a handful of players through the reservation system. The open play system that already exists at Muirwood promotes community. Community happens during those exact times that Commissioner Hall was complaining about, not when you're playing pickleball. It is during those wait times when you talk about your lives, make lunch plans, make new friends, and have fellowship with the community. In my own personal experience, I have made new relationships with all ages from 20 to 80s, genders and ethnicities that would not have happened if those wait times did not exist. I've even attended a wedding celebration with my wife of a couple who were playing pickleball at Marywood Park. Another point made during the August meeting was that the reservation system would generate revenue for court maintenance. I agree that this would provide revenue, but the $30,000 a year estimate from my own personal experience of renting out the Bickleball Courts at Pleasanton Tennis Community Park is a little overinflated. A more detailed look at the numbers from Lifetime and Fitness is needed to show what is realistic. The community shared other ideas to generate the revenue through a fundraiser, GoFundMe, more specifically having a pickleball tournament held at Muirwood to generate the revenue. By only having a handful of tournaments a year, you are only locking out a few Saturdays, Sundays in the year, which the pickleball community would participate in. Monday through Friday would remain open play and undisturbed during those tournament events. A reservation system already exists at Pleasanton Community Tennis Park for four pickleball courts, which has historically been a pay-for-play culture. So there is no need to implement a reservation system at Muirwood, which would kill the community vibe that has historically been there. As it was back in 2021, I urge the City Council to hear the community again and say no to the reservation system at Muirwood. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much.

Yash Rakeshan, followed by Alan Chan, followed by Bob McGarry. Welcome. Thank you.

I understand I can use profanity in this meeting, right? I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'd prefer not, yeah. I'm kidding. Okay, thank you for giving some time. So the park and rec philosophy talk about quality of life, well-being, healthy lifestyles, and meeting recreational and social needs from the community. That's directly from parks and rec. And the Pleasants and Sports Division talks about fostering healthy active community and bringing people together promoting well-being and camaraderie. I think if you install a reservation system, it's going to have the opposite effect. Because when you do create a reservation system, it actually reduces the access to the court instead of enabling it. So one of the items in the presentation said that you are going to allow for more use. I think the problem is at peak hours, you have up to 60 people in the courts. With 10 paddle racks and six courts, that's 64 people. If you limit it to three courts being booked, you have instead of 64 people on six courts, you'll now have 52 people waiting on three courts. So it's doubled the length of the wait time, which just would increase the frustration. Now the community building aspect, the reason it works because it's free is that everyone gets to rotate in and out and play with other people. Now the four player system where people say they can't play with each other is actually false because you can play with each other, you just have to wait longer because someone else might be ahead of you waiting and they don't want to play with the people who are available, they want to play as a group which is totally valid. Now, there are other issues that I might see, which is when they say resident versus non-resident, I'd love to know how that was validated, internal and external. Another problem that comes into play is that everyone will need to know who has and hasn't booked a court, which means they'd have to be on their phones. Some people are not going to be very good at their phones and doing this. And it's going to be really uncomfortable going and saying, hey, I have this court, get out. Or can I just finish my point? No, I have it. You've got to go. So it creates a conflict. Now, other ways that we can make money on the court, because I think the money is important, is the courts are 120 by 100 feet. So that's 144 square feet. Now, if you have 20-foot banners that local businesses could pay for, $500 apiece for a year, that comes up to $11,000 that could go on the fence. Paragon tournaments that are held in Concord, they charge about $80 for a player, and they have 20 players registered. If you do those four times a year at six courts versus 12 courts, it takes it to, they make about 8,000 a year, I mean, a tournament. Have that four times a year, that amounts to $32,000. Now, if a portion of that goes to the city, then that would pay for the entire thing.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Alan Chan. I'm sorry, no clapping. Welcome, raise your hands. Alan Chan, Bob McGarry, followed by Cindy Margaroid.

Welcome. I'm Alan Chan. I'm a resident president. I've been living here for 38 years. One of the things, first thing I noticed on those charts, I don't see a problem statement. What is the problem you're solving? And have you validated the problem before you go spend any effort into solving it? So I don't see any of that. I don't know how you know that you solved the problem. Number one, we don't have a 60 people waiting to play. I've been playing there since the first day the court was open. Typically, we got about maybe 40 to 45 people. That mean 24. to people playing, about 14 people waiting. So the waiting time in the morning time, which is why I play, is about 15 to 20 minutes. And most of the people our age, we need that 15 minute rest in between. Okay, so that's a good thing. And we've been building a community since it opened, so we've become really friends with each other. I mean, I think this is what the community is for, the community part, is the people that know each other. We go out to lunch and we share our gardening produce and all that stuff. So we're all friends with each other. I mean, you're not going to go there and tear it down. Okay, and also pickleballs are different than tennis. I mean, I think the last meeting, Michelle was describing a restoration system that you go with your partner and you reserve a court, you play one hour, one hour's not good enough, you reserve another hour. Pickleball's not like that. I mean, I wake up in the morning, I eat my breakfast, I go down to the court and I play pickleball. Who want to make a restoration and call your friends? I mean, you guys walk down to the tennis court and pickleball court, you notice tennis court is all empty, pickleball court are full of life. And then you're talking about 700 spots. I mean, you're talking about eight hours a day. So you're talking about spending eight hours in the morning I mean, four hours in the morning, four hours at night. You don't have light in the system, so you can't go too long at night. And then I say, we've got about 45 people in the morning. You don't have that demand to support that restoration system. I don't think you guys have looked into the situation and talked to the people that playing pickleball, do you really want a restoration system? Currently, I understand the reservation at the tennis court is you got one person representing 14 people and reserve the court. Okay, nobody want to go there if you only have two people. Okay, pickleball is different than tennis.

Okay, Mr. Chan, thank you very much. Your time is completed. I have Bob McGarry, followed by Cindy Morgarod, followed by Robert Beanland. And if I can just maybe remind our speakers to address the council staffs just following council's policy. So, yes, welcome.

Yeah, Bob McGarry, a longtime resident and first council member. uh... thank you for being responsive to the emails that we sent to you and as a uh... regular player at mere would i i just want to commend what a great asset we have and i think that's what brings us here today uh... we've got A class a facility and that's one of the reasons that some of the surrounding communities do come to Pleasanton is because of the Merewood facility and being a daily player there. I become friends with those and I think we ought to welcome our neighbors to come join our activities here in Pleasanton. I strongly encourage you to vote against this measure. The why behind that is the local pickleball community has recognized the popularity of Muirwood. The local pickleball community has implemented a rotation system that ensures that everybody gets equal play. And if we institute a program that would, in essence, take away half the courts, that is not gonna work. And I think the way we have managed it locally through the residents as well as the locals, it's a very beneficial system that promotes equality. and and i think if you talk to those that come from a surrounding communities it's it's more of a social thing as much as a pickleball thing so we have a real asset here in pleasonton that i think we ought to applaud the parks and recs and use the commission for approving this a few years ago As far as comments, the Parks and Recs Commission meeting where this was presented as a regular player at Muirwood on a daily basis, I don't think the full truth about the numbers, the wait times, and the inconveniences were properly represented. Another factor with that is, as noted in Park and Rec's notes, is there was no public comment solicited. They did ask the Tri-Valley Pickleball Club for their feedback on it, and I think there's representatives here tonight that can give their perspective. And the last thing is I think if you feel there is a need for a reservation system, we should do that for all sports in all parks, not just Muirwood and not just one park. So again, I just wanna circle back and commend the fact that we do have a great facility. The local people have taken it upon themselves to ensure that everybody's welcome and everybody gets equal play time. So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you and thank you for your pride of ownership. Uh Cindy uh Mogerod followed by Robert Beanland, followed by uh Joan Mogerod. I apologize for mispronouncing your last name if you can correct me. Welcome.

That's okay. Good evening uh Mayor, City Council and supporting staff. My name is Cindy Mogerody. My husband and I have been living in Pleasanton for over 27 years. I currently work at Viva Systems on Hacienda Drive for the past 10 years. Our daughter was born here, raised here, and we've been part of the Pleasanton Pickleball community since 2015, back when we were doing pickleball in the PMS. indoor gyms, so quite a while. First of all, I strongly echo and agree with all of the previous speakers. But tonight, I'm here to provide a different perspective. I've managed software teams for more than 20 years, and one thing that I've learned is that real teamwork and camaraderie and trust are very hard to build. During COVID in 2020, I became a bit of a pickleball ambassador at Viva Systems. because, mostly because I saw how naturally this game breaks down walls between people. Six years later, it's going strong. I have 15 to 20 plus coworkers who casually play at the PMS Pickleball Courts every Wednesday regularly. And after work, there are five to six regular attendees at Mirrorwood who like to play in the open play environment, in a much more competitive environment. When teams want guaranteed time together for an annual team building event, they frequently reserve courts at lifetime. To me, that illustrates exactly what I love about the pickleball landscape here at Pleasanton. There is a place for everyone. Those that want to play open play, those who want to pick up a paddle and casually play with their family members or coworkers, or those who want to do an organized team event. Now, Muirwood is where my family plays, my husband plays, I play, and our daughter spent her last summer before college playing there. We did not play together all the time. Each of us could find games at our own level and then come together at the end of the day and play a nice family game. That's the value of an open play community area. Mayor Balch, you may recognize me from VMS where Owen and Mara went to school together. One of the things we always valued about Montessori was that community was not something taught in theory. It was something practiced every day. I think Muirwood is a perfect example of that. So many have talked about the value of community already. I really want to stress tonight that cutting the courts in half will raise the chance of losing this diverse community. Muirwood's unique value is not simply that it has six courts. It is what happens when all six operate together as an open play community. Once you disrupt the rhythm of the six connected open play courts, it may be very difficult to recreate. So please preserve what makes Muirwood special pilot alternatives first at other locations, and involve the people who built this community before fundamentally changing it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Well spoken. Robert, followed by, oh, John. Sorry, I thought it was Joan. And Raman Mari. Welcome.

Hello, my name is Robert Beanland. I am the vice president of the Tri-Valley Pickleball Club. We were here when we first started talking about Muirwood. I was personally at the ribbon cutting ceremony speaking with the mayor at the time during that ceremony. We are extremely proud of this facility. And we have been involved with discussions with Michelle Croce and various other people, occasionally just to see what's going on here in the city of Pleasanton. Our goal is to grow the game of pickleball. We do that with introductory clinics, we do that with skill building clinics, we do that with social activities, and we believe in all the passion that I've seen from all the people here. Pickleball is a very social game, and we believe that this reservation system, the way it's proposed, would limit the accessibility and the inclusivity of the people. We run ourselves two or three different tournaments a year. We raise quite a bit of money during these tournaments. We would be happy to work with you if that is something you would consider as a way to raise money. We also have business sponsorships. I like the idea of potentially offering that opportunity to businesses to advertise at the courts. There's no impact on the game. There's no impact on any waiting times. So I think there are some other great ideas that have been brought up here. um funds are very important and that's critical we could be a possible a possible source of some of those funds because we believe in this game we have funds we believe in investing in the municipalities where there is need and where it will benefit the players in general so that might be something that we could have as part of a discussion that we would love to have about a better way to help raise the funds help address the issues that you guys are seeing. Wait times, yes, they're always going to be there. Pickleball continues to grow. Until we have more courts than we have players, there's always gonna be waiting. But we have tracked the numbers at Muirwood over the last three years or however long it's been around on every single day. And I can report those to you to show you the growth and you can then calculate the wait times. It's really not that long. It's never an hour, hour and a half, okay? That would require about 500 people waiting for those six courts. So that number might've been exaggerated somewhere along the way. And again, we can offer a lot of different perspectives. We worked with many different cities. We've worked with different municipalities to help address many of these issues that you guys are going through. So we definitely offer that ourselves. And again, we believe there's a better way and that this particular proposal is not the best for the pickleball community. But thank you for your time. Thank you very much.

John, and then followed by Raman. Welcome.

Mr. Mayor, City Council, I apologize, I'm not as eloquent as my lovely wife who just spoke, but I'll do my best. As you can probably tell, most people here are objecting to the conversion of the six pickleball courts, and I just wanna talk a little bit about math, so you can tune out if you don't like math. So currently, if we assume a game is 15 minutes, it's probably between 10 and 20, so let's make it 15. We get 96 player opportunities per hour currently, and it really doesn't matter what the game time is, but when you introduce these fixed courts that are reservable where 12 people can stay, we get a 37.5% reduction in player opportunities. The game is growing. We want more access for residents. A nearly 40% reduction, it really seems troubling to us. I can support those numbers with a spreadsheet. You can put it in your AI friend and they'll calculate it for you. It's very easy. So the three open play course. So not only that, but now the burden of all these people who wish to play open play, their wait time doubles while we give special access to these people in the reservation system. So there's something else that I think is important. This exact system has been implemented at Manor Park in San Leandro. if you speak to the players that are there it is they're very unhappy it's not working well it's exactly the same they reduced they went from six to three in fact they now travel to other sites sometimes mirrorwood which you may think is bad um because they're so frustrated with this reservation system they already did and it seems like the parks and rec commission maybe considered that as a blueprint for for what they're proposing here I did want to point out the slide that was here earlier. There was no vote by the Parks and Rec Commission to say whether or not we should do this. They were presented with two options, both included fees, fees for residents and non-residents. No one ever voted on whether or not you should, and you all had good questions. What about just Tuesdays and Thursdays? What about after 11 a.m. every day? What about never on the weekend? When should we make the reservation system if we need it at all? Those things were never considered. The other thing I wanted to point out was community outreach. Commissioner Eicher, you asked about that. A QR code sitting on the fence that we can scan and fill out a survey is very easy to do. You don't need a person sitting there to get feedback. You just need a little sign and a phone. So that absolutely was never done. and I suspect you probably have a lot more people here tonight if that was done because they would actually know about this meeting, but unfortunately we didn't. How did we hear about it? Word of mouth, one person overheard from the president of the Tri-Valley Pickleball Club and then the rumor just spread. We acknowledge that some people have problems, like a reservation system, problems with parking, problems with noise. It doesn't address noise. There's still just as much noise. It doesn't address parking. These are all logical questions that we're all scratching our head. It doesn't address those. That seems like those were made-up responses to get the reservation system in, and that's my time. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Rama Mari, I believe, was... I apologize if you can help me with that.

I was going to correct that.

Thank you, please. I'm Ram Amari.

I've been a Pleasanton resident for about 20 years. Let me start by saying that pickleball is a great social sport. I've played other sports. I personally have moved from tennis to pickleball. about two years ago, and I used to play at the Lifetime Tennis. I'm very familiar with reserving courts. I know what that means, to reserve courts for tennis. Also do that for pickleball. I have to say, what do you guys or what does a community want is the community development, and pickleball does that. And what I have seen at Muirwood is a great culture. The reason I say that, compared to the other places I've played at, I've played at Livermore, I've played at Dublin, I've played at San Ramon, Fremont, and I've just come back traveling East Coast. I was in Cleveland, in Annapolis, and then Louisville. I played elsewhere, and what we have at Muirwood, the culture is not something that can be mimicked anywhere. I've seen that. Also, Pleasanton, we have only pretty much six courts for the entire Pleasanton Lake. I know we can say, PMS has it, but those are pretty much useless. I don't know whoever built that. Sorry, but they're not, you can't play there, right? It's a tar road, like, you know, it's a blacktop just painted, and we've wasted resources, whoever has done that. Dublin has 12 courts. They're all lighted ones. We have only six courts. By introducing this reservation system, we are pretty much telling Pleasanton residents to go play elsewhere. Go San Ramon, go play Dublin. You no longer have courts here. Sorry, I'm just trying to run through my notes. And open play is the best part, right? I'm very familiar with reserving courts. Some of the people who have come out here, they know that I try to host like tournaments or events, team events. I'm part of like two nonprofit clubs, Duke's Pickleball Club and FDC. What we try to do is build an active community and through these tournaments and people who want to have the competitive nature or experience that. We bring them together. We host that. I've run several tournaments at Lifetime Tennis. So I'm very familiar with that. I don't think Mirrood is the place for it. And especially when you're not going to monitor it with people there, it's not going to solve any of those problem statements. I think our people have addressed that. Lastly. There are other private organizations, Pickler and Pickleball Kingdom coming up with their own private facilities. And once they have their facilities come up in Livermore and Pleasanton soon, the reservation system is pretty much useless here.

Thank you. Okay. That is my last speaker card. If you would like to speak on item number 21B, formerly known as item number 10, and have not turned in a blue speaker card, please approach the podium at this time.

one more welcome and if you could turn on a card once you're completed thank you good evening mayor balls council city staff I am NOT part of the pickleball community although I would love to be but I do live just a few blocks from the courts I tried playing on the courts a few times could not get the time. But a comment was made in the presentation about noise and problems at Muirwood Park. Living only a few blocks from the courts, yeah, there are many cars parked on the street during the day when everyone is playing pickleball. I never see lines outside the court, over on the grass. I never hear more noise than I normally do. I can't speak to the people that live directly across from the courts, but I haven't talked to any neighbors, and I've lived there 40 years. I haven't talked to any neighbors who have complained about the fact that we have pickleball courts and so many people that care about it. I have no, you know, I'm not gaining or losing anything by talking or not talking tonight. I just want to say that if somebody is complaining about noise and congestion on Muirwood Drive as a result of pickleball courts, I would like some proof because every day I go by those courts and I don't see it. So that's all.

All I have. Thank you. Thank you. And if I could ask you to fill out a blue speaker card. Are there any additional members of the community that would like to address this item and have not turned in a blue speaker card? Please approach the podium at this time. Hearing none, seeing none, online, clerk, do we have anyone joining us virtually?

We have a couple of speakers. The first is Sharon Gutierrez. Sharon, if you can unmute, please, and provide your comment.

Sharon, can you hear us? Me? Yes, please, go ahead.

You can hear me now? Yes. Hello, thank you. Hello, my name is Sharon Gutierrez and I've been a resident of Pleasanton since 2014. I started playing pickleball after COVID at Rudd Gear Park in Walnut Creek. I was super nervous because I wasn't even remotely athletic. I didn't know anyone there and I went to play by myself. Luckily, Rudd Gear Park, which has eight courts, had a great open play community and they welcomed me in. Once Muirwood opened in November 2022, I slowly shifted my playing from Red Gear to Muirwood. At first, I didn't want to because I made so many connections at Red Gear, but my husband had helped to convert the two tennis courts to six pickleball courts, so I started playing at Muirwood. For the first three years, I played there five to six days a week, mostly in the mornings from 9 to 12. I've seen the community flourish over those years, and I've made many new social connections since then. And I'm not the only one. It's so nice to see one strangers come to play pickleball and later to see them chatting about their lives on the bench while waiting for their next game. But first and foremost, people are there to play pickleball. If you reduce the number of courts by half, wait times for open play will go up and people will stop coming. The reservation system is being proposed to address, but not limited to, the complaints that there are too many non-residents playing, that people are forced to play with others, and that it's too noisy. I personally don't agree with those complaints, but I hope that the city will take the time to collect data from those who actually play at Muirwood before making a change that will sever the established community vibe that I see today. Currently, I'm there three to four mornings each week. By the way, I still play at Red Gear once a month and play at Osage in Danville one to two days a week. Some of those non-resident players are my friends from those two cities. One, how many playing residents are complaining about non-residents playing versus playing residents who are fine with it? Two, how many playing residents are complaining about being forced to play with others versus playing residents who enjoy the variety? And three, where's the sound study that shows that the pickleball noise is excessive versus the freeway noise? I know there's a need for reservations, friends and family who only wish to play together, but there's also a need for open play. Those who have an unpredictable schedule, singles, and people like me who like the ease of just showing up and not having to coordinate a group. There's already an existing reservation system at the tennis park, which I have used when organized play is needed. Don't take away the only open play community in Pleasanton without showing the data that it's necessary. Thank you.

The next speaker is Krupa Sri Girikumar. If you can please unmute and provide your comment. Mayor, we have no other speakers, so I'm not sure we're going to get this speaker on.

Okay. Do you want to try one more time just to see, please?

Sure. Krupa Sri, if you could please unmute at this time and provide your comment.

Is it by Zoom or phone? Via Zoom. Okay.

We are able to get a connection with this individual. Okay. Hello. Can you hear me?

Oh, yes. Yes. Welcome.

Okay. Yeah. Hi. So my name is Krupa Sri. I've been living in Pleasanton for Close to like five years, but I've been playing pickleball from 2023. I'm new to the sport and all I would like to tell is I live in this neighborhood right across the pickleball courts and I hear no noise. And even though the pickleball courts are crowded, no one comes outside, runs around now. Everyone is inside the court. And when I started playing, people are so welcoming. They didn't even think that I'm a fresher. They didn't want to play. No. It was a super awesome community there. And changing three codes to a reserve code would definitely spoil that spirit there. I don't think it's going to be that welcoming. It's going to create some negative effects. So I support not to convert the three codes to a reserved codes. And regarding the neighborhood noise, it's I don't hear anything. So yeah, that's it from our end. Thank you.

Is that our last speaker clerk?

Yes, that was our last request to speak.

Okay, so we're gonna close public comment. Thank you very much for being part of it. Since I think this may be one of your first times, this will be the most frustrating part for you because we're gonna deliberate and I ask that you please remain quiet because you've had your opportunity to speak. So sometimes we are not familiar with the issue, and please don't yell it out if you know the answer, right? That's not how this works. But I appreciate your patience. We will muddle through it as best we can. Councilmember Eicher, I started with you when you pulled the item. Do you want to provide any comments, or do you want to re-voice your initial thought?

I do have questions now. Do we know... In the process of undertaking this resolution, did we do any research into how lifestyle reservations are working for them? I mean, has it increased their use of courts? Has it reduced their use of courts? Do we know what the impact looks like, and do we know what their revenue generation is out of that?

Again, it's difficult to state. I would not be surprised, but I would need to get back with an answer. That information would be easy to obtain from lifetime activities.

Do you know if we've done any work to use Alan Chan's verbiage to validate noise and traffic issues and people not being able to use or what the counts are because it sounds like, according to Mr. Beaman, they have a very good idea of what that looks like. Have we done any work to figure out is there really a problem here or is this all anecdotal and we're making a recommendation based upon anecdotal information?

think there were some concerns and that came forward and i don't have data on that but based upon public or people's comments not necessarily data that goes behind i don't i don't think we performed any noise studies or anything of the sort okay yeah um

okay with I guess with that I guess I'll make in my deliberations I would like to say that I really appreciate the community input when I got this particular item and I first reviewed it I was prepared to go the other way on this until I heard the public input and folks coming out and really talking about what was important to them. It helped me understand this process a little bit better in regards to how we got to where we are in this particular issue. To me, it doesn't feel like we did the work behind it. We listened to some folks and basically decided what direction we were gonna go. And to some degree, it almost feels like a revenue generation opportunity where I don't know that this is the best area in which to delve into that. And I would like to know how that impacts the ability for our community to play at these locations or at other locations by having that reservation cycle. So it really got me thinking about the dynamics of what this is and the impacts to the culture of the Stone Ridge or the Muirwood Park. I grew up in that neighborhood. My mom still lives there. I drive through there all the time. I don't see the traffic issues. I do see parked cars and I see people at the courts, but I don't see a significant issue when I drive through there and I visit my mom quite often, you know, but I'm not there all the time like the residents are, so I can't speak to every day and what that looks like. It's my opinion that there wasn't enough solid data in which to make these decisions and I don't feel that the Park and Recs Commission adequately heard our community on what the concerns were So my motion is gonna be to deny this and to send it back to the Park and Recs Commission and if they feel that there's a need to advance this, they need to do the work behind it and demonstrate to us that this is the best methodology and where to go and to listen to the community in addition to that. So I'll make a motion to deny it. Okay.

Can I just ask for point of clarification of your motion, Councilmember? Yes. Do you want Park and Rec to agendize this and take it up, which I don't think we would have to approve nor deny. We could just remit it back. I'm looking to the City Attorney to confirm that action. Or do you want to deny it, which would mean these options won't be on the table? If I may, I'd be more agreeable to just send the whole thing back.

I'm absolutely okay with sending the whole thing back. I think as proposed, it's not adequate that it needs to go back and be reworked before they present and decide after doing the work whether or not this is the correct course of action.

Okay. So you'll accept that friendly amendment? Yes. Okay.

For the remittance.

Okay.

Council Member Tester, you're next, please.

Okay. Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing the feedback. I thoroughly enjoy the positive community energy. I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing from so many people about the camaraderie and how This has really brought people together. I've heard so many stories, personal stories from so many residents. And I'm extremely proud also that these courts, I was a part of the advocating for some pickleball players had come to myself and I'm sure other council members at the time. And I had the opportunity to advocate for moving forward on this, and I was at the ribbon cutting as well. And I have three sons who are young. And I was surprised to learn that they are avid pickleball players. And when they all converge in town, they go to Muirwood and they play. And every time they do, when they come home, because I had heard concerns that some of our regular pickleball players, they were concerned that there would be some challenges. And what I've always heard from my boys is, nope, not much of a weight. And it's so much fun and everybody is supportive. And with them as young, aggressive athletes, I worried because I wouldn't want to play with them. But for the most part, I've heard really positive things. So I'm very proud and very excited about how this resource has evolved for our community. I also agree that um before we had these courts so many of our pickleball players were sharing their stories about going to other communities and so even in our early discussions about how do we address that the comments were well we were going there And now they're going to be coming here and that's fair is fair. So I don't think that that is the issue here. We did get a lot of emails from community members saying that they support the reservation system. And the feedback that I have been following all of you, I was invited to follow the WhatsApp And I've been following, reading every comment because I did want, like I said, no decision was made. And this is the community input that we were waiting for, needing and the opportunity. So I have over the last three weeks, heard from many of you. Whether I'm at the farmer's market or met some of you at the concert in the park. I was surprised because you knew more about it than I did in the early days and I learned from you. I think it's wonderful. I think your community that you've evolved. I've been saying since the first days of the courts that I want to learn to play. And several of my friends have said, Julie, we'll teach you. Come on. So I'm going to do that, especially after this, after hearing so many just emotional and positive comments about what's offered with this. But I can't ignore the many emails that we also got about, and the ones that I think got me the most were, There are people who didn't really want to, I think, express it, but they said, it isn't a, I don't want to play with people, but there are some people who expressed that players like my sons make them uncomfortable. or make them feel less safe. And I think that that's valid. And while that isn't the majority of the community, I think that that is still valid. I would, having listened to all of your comments, read every email, and I apologize if I didn't get back to everyone. I did try. All of that flood that came in today or yesterday or just, I couldn't, we couldn't respond, I think, to everybody. But I read every one, even those really long ones. Gosh, guys. So... I would offer a substitute motion. I don't think this needs to go back to Parks and Rec. I think you've been heard. I've heard you. But what I heard from so many of you were the different possibilities, as the mayor suggested or alluded to. I heard from you all that, well, you know, we could do some days a week and not seven days a week for some of the courts. We could do some modified times, maybe just Monday through Friday and just... two courts that have reservation in the morning and afternoon it's all open play and I think that would accommodate those who feel less secure playing with my sons when they show up because they're young and aggressive and so I would like to come up with a compromise. I heard a lot of you saying that there were alternatives that could work. So I'd like to at least suggest a substitute motion that would be, I don't think it needs to go back to parks and rec, and I would like to suggest possibly two courts that from morning till noon for reservation, and it would be Monday through Friday. So I'm gonna put that one forward as a substitute motion.

Okay, so there's a substitute motion. Would you like to second it?

Would you like to second it?

Fails for lack of a second. Okay, so it fails right away? Yeah. Okay, I was thinking there were two competing motions. There's a substitute motion that needs a second. Would you like to second it? No, I'll tell why. I just thought maybe we could talk about it. Substitute motion fails for lack of a second. Are you completed, Council Member Testa?

I am. Okay.

Council Member Nyberg. Okay.

So yeah, I'll have my piece to say now. At the end of it, I may make second or make another substitute motion. It depends. So we'll see which one I support. Yeah, I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight and making your voices heard. Bringing this perspective to the council, I myself was completely unaware of the type of community that exists there at Muirwood Courts, the open play system. Never heard of it. I did go, I live real close to those pickleball courts, even closer than the resident who spoke up before, and yeah, I walk my dog in the park, go by those courts all the time, haven't played, stopped in one time and just observed some friendly pickleball playing going on. But now I feel like I want to pick up my pickleball paddle and come out and see what it's all about. But yeah, as far as traffic goes, there are cars parked up and down Muirwood next to the park. Often throughout the day, maybe sometimes more than others, but that can't all be attributed to pickleball. You have soccer teams playing as well in the evenings and it's the same thing for them. The traffic or the parking, I wouldn't call it traffic, I'd call it just lots of cars parked. I go up and down that street every day and it doesn't really bother me. I notice something's really popular because there are lots of cars. So what I had heard was the reason this was coming forward was because the courts are monopolized by people from other cities and Pleasants-in-Residence weren't being served very well because of that. So obviously I didn't have the data. And it seems to me that the Parks and Rec Commission probably didn't have the data either to support the assertions that there are too many non-residents playing. I don't know what too many means or how you would define that. But that would be on the people who are on the commission who are supporting a different policy to come up with and justify. So I question why this policy was even forwarded to the council by the Parks and Rec Commission when it's clearly lacking a lot of information that I would want to have, that I think all of us would want to have. I would support some kind of a part-time compromise option as well, as Council Member Testa mentioned, maybe confining it to a few days a week, certain hours during the week. But rather than making that something that we decide on, I think that's something that the Parks and Rec Commission needs to take up and then get back to us with the data, a decision based upon all of the inputs which seems to me was not heard or I can't imagine them hearing all of the input that has been provided tonight and then coming forward with this recommendation to us. Not enough data, very little data, whatever. We need data. I'm an engineer by training, so I rely on data. I like to make decisions based on data. I even found out today there's a company called Boomtown Pickleball because they made the... open play racks that are posted there that's attached to the fence. I had never heard of Boomtown Pickleball, but I looked it up. They're a real company. I do have a question about tournaments. The idea of tournaments being held at our recreation facilities and parks, can organizations simply hold tournaments? Anytime they want, do they have to reserve? This is for any sport. I know we have organizations like softball and so on that hold tournaments, but they're coordinated with the city. Are there opportunities for all sports or something like pickleball to coordinate those kinds of tournaments with the city? And would there be any benefits to be derived?

Yeah, Councilman Nyberg, I'm not sure we have the right people here to be able to answer that question. In my past experience, when cities do that, there are typically fees that are associated with being able to use the facility to host the tournament. But we do host tournaments for other sports. So I don't see why it wouldn't be possible.

Just a thought, as the one commenter mentioned, the possible use of tournaments to possibly as a fundraiser, but I don't know. Using the facilities that already exist for tournaments for which people are paying, it seems like the city should get some rental or something from that. I'll leave that to people who know better. My recommendation is that we send this back to the Parks and Rec Commission and I would like the Parks and Rec Commission to look at the data and if the data doesn't exist, either define the data or tell us that it doesn't exist and come back with another either recommendation or conclusion or no recommendation. Or no recommendation, yeah. Which would be a conclusion. And possibly also consider the types of time sharing or court sharing that Councilmember Testa mentioned. So not wanting to deny it out of hand and call it a dead issue and not wanting to have us institute the you know legislate up here is what the the times and days should be uh i think the parks and rec commission should do that and so i'd like to second the motion to send it back to the parks rec commission commission but to also include what direct uh council member test was getting at second that motion

Yeah, and I apologize, because I made a friendly amendment, and I forgot to second it, which I initially had thought, so appreciate you doing that. Councilmember Eicher, you made the motion. Do you accept the friendly amendment he's suggesting, which is looking at a time of day and some other options there?

Absolutely.

Okay, so I think we have a motion made and seconded. Are you complete with your comments? Yes. Okay, I'll just round out. I'll try to be brief. I appreciate your patience. You come expecting to be heard by 7 o'clock, and we're here at 9.30. Welcome to government, but thank you for showing up. I, too, was on the council in 22. I remember approving this. It's a great amenity. And what I heard and what I really appreciate in your comments is the pride of ownership of this community asset. So thank you for taking care of a part of Pleasanton and what you do. It's a great example of why Pleasanton was just named one of the second highest quality of life locations in the nation. I think you all have demonstrated that. All right, we shouldn't clap. The other thing I'll just mention is I appreciate you coming out and showing up. And if I can just encourage that, showing up to be part of the governmental process really matters. So thank you for showing up. to agree with the motion. I'll be able to support it. Many valid points were raised. I'm a prior park and rec commissioner myself. So one of the things that caught me off guard was that there wasn't a sign out there to notify people in walking up to that who are using that facility that there's a public meeting to discuss something related to that facility. So I would suggest before the Park and Rec Commission agendize this that we do put up some type of signage or sandwich board or something. I know sandwich boards aren't allowed per se, but some type of signage to notify the, I'll call it ad hoc community members of the pickleball community of a public meeting related to it. And I agree, remitting it to the Park and Rec Commission with this feedback that they've had if staff can try to capture it all that would be great but also i just want to maybe emphasize this council to give great credit is truly working hard to build community and it looks like we've achieved a lot of that goals here um belonging, welcomeness, and come as you are. So if we can just kinda keep the goal mind of what Pleasanton aspires to be, that would be great. And then sponsorship opportunities, I think is a great idea. We can let staff work that out. But I do concur. And as I mentioned kind of earlier, you know, maybe there's only a few days or a few hours for novice or beginners to be able to reserve. But it also keep in mind, I think Park and Rec needs to factor all of that in and and and let this cook a little bit better, frankly. Any further comments before we take a vote? Yeah, just curious. Yes.

Councilmember, when was the the ribbon cutting was in 2022 late in the year?

I apologize, I don't remember offhand. Do you remember?

I think I recall it being like after I was elected but before I was sworn in. I didn't want to be there because it seemed like I'd be taking credit for something I didn't do. But now I wish I had gone.

You might have been enveloped into the sport. Be careful. Okay. It was a good day.

I would like to thank Tamara for pinch hitting in Michelle and Heidi's absence. So I know it was challenging for you, and we appreciate it. So thank you.

Okay, so with that, we have a motion made to just to summarize it, but it will be as stated by my fellow council members to remit it back to the Park and Recreation Commission with taking into consideration the feedback, potential time of day for our novice or beginner players, and get that feedback and come back with a better policy if that's the ultimate direction or recommendation. Okay, we have a motion made and a seconded. City Clerk, if we can take a vote, please.

Council Member Eicher?

Aye.

Nybert?

Aye.

Testa? Aye. Mayor Balch? Aye. The motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. This concludes this item. We are going to go ahead and take a five-minute break, so it's 925. We'll resume our meeting at 930, and we will be taking up Item 21C, formerly known as Item Number 8. Thank you. OK, if I can ask everyone to take their seats, we're going to resume the meeting. If I can ask everyone to please assemble. If I can ask everyone to please assemble so that we can resume the meeting. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. I'm going to get TV 30 going for us. Good evening and welcome to the continuation of the September 15th, 2026 council meeting. It is 936 p.m. and we are continuing on. We are now moving to item 21c, formerly known as item number eight, the fee schedule. Staff, if you don't mind, I think we need to get an update in light of the action on the prior item, please.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. So the reason for having held this over, the master fee schedule includes Attachment 1, which is a specific detail of the fees themselves. So if we look at Attachment 1, there were pickleball fees that were included here. It's on page 6 of Attachment 1, or... As you look at the chronologically numbered packet, it's on page 67 of 318. And it is right down at the bottom of the page, pickleball court reservation fees. So in light of the action taken by the council, we would recommend that we strike that from attachment one. and then move the balance of the item forward for your consideration. Okay, thank you very much.

This was on consent. Do we need a staff presentation or is council any clarifying questions or ready to move the item with that recommendation by staff?

I'm comfortable moving it as recommended by staff.

with the amendment to strike pickleball fees. Yes. So moved. Motion made by Councilmember Eicher, seconded by Councilmember Nyberg. Any clarifying questions? Okay. Public comment? If you would like to speak on item 21C, formerly known as item 8, please approach the podium at this time. Seeing none, any online clerk?

No requests to speak.

Okay, we'll close public comment, bring it back to council. We have a motion made and seconded. We're kind of a little out of order, but appreciate it. With that, roll call vote.

Council members Eicher?

Aye.

Nybert? Aye. Testa?

Aye.

Mayor Balch?

Aye.

The motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. Okay, we are now proceeding to the remainder of the standard items. Item number 22, I have to read the script, which I've been provided. This is, and for everyone following along, we have a joint meeting currently going on right now. This is item 2 on the Joint Powers Financing Authority meeting agenda and item 22 on the Pleasanton City Council meeting agenda. We are now calling these together. This is approving, authorizing, and directing execution of certain financing documents and certain actions in connection with issuing up to $16,500,000 in water revenue bonds for financing improvements to the city's water system.

And with that, I think we're ready for a staff report.

Please, welcome.

MR. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Before I turn this over to our finance director, Susan Shea, I will mention that, as was the case when the Council received a presentation on this last month, we are joined here this evening by the members of our financing team. Saim Ali is here with us this evening. He is a vice president with Stuart Siebert, Williams, Schenk are our underwriters. I believe we have online with us Jaime Trejo, who is our municipal advisor. He is with PFM Consultants. And then I believe we have our bond counsel, James Wozniak, with Jones Hall, also available with us here this evening. So with that, I will just hasten to add that this is the most recent in a series of steps that the city is following, strategic steps, if you will, that go back to the adoption of a water system management plan. that was adopted by the city council and all toward the goal of ensuring that the residents of Pleasanton have a sustainable, safe, dependable water supply and delivery system. So I'm gonna turn it over to Susan and let her walk us through the presentation.

Thank you, Joe. Good evening, mayor and council members. Tonight staff is seeking approval for water bond issuance for an amount not to exceed $16.5 million. For this bond issuance, the financing team is composed of city staff, PFM, the municipal advisor, Jones Hall, the bond and disclosure council, Sybil Williams-Shank, the underwriter, and U.S. Bank, the trustee. At the August meeting, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring the City's intent to reimburse expenditures related to capital improvement projects. These capital investments will sustain water infrastructure, ensuring clean and reliable drinking water for the community. The cost for these investments are estimated at about $15 million. The bond proceeds will be used to finance the projects presented here, including the water meter and advance the metering infrastructure system replacement project to replace the aging infrastructure with a more modern system. The city groundwater supply project, a joint project with Zone 7 to develop two new wells. The water system emergency power improvements program to upgrade the emergency power systems. and the annual water distribution system improvements projects to replace and install water mains, wells, and other equipment. Any other water capital projects approved by the city council are also eligible for the use of this bond funds. The bonds will be repaying over a 25-year period. The interest rate is not expected to exceed 5.5%. Call provisions will be included in the bond documents to ensure the city will be able to redeem outstanding bonds prior to the scheduled maturity. Bonds will be sold through a negotiable sale through the city's underwriter. We have attained a AA credit rating with a stable outlook from S&P global ratings. A AA rating is a really strong credit rating. The true interest cost for this bond issuance is estimated at about 4.3%. The issuance costs are estimated at about $264,000. The annual debt service payment is estimated at about $1 million. The total debt service payments are estimated at about $24.7 million. Please know that this is good faith estimates only. Actual financial results are likely different from what we present here tonight due to changes to market conditions on the day of sale and other factors. At the August meeting, the city council also direct the staff to conduct additional analysis to identify a shorter payment term other than the 30-year repayment term to achieve interest savings. Following the council meeting, the financing team conducted additional analysis to include a 25-year repayment term. Compared to the 30-year repayment term, the savings on interest costs is about $2.8 million. Using this 25-year repayment, it also helped us to balance three competing priorities, including preserving cash flow for ongoing capital projects, maintaining strong base cash on hand, and retaining capacity for future debt issuance. If the Council approves the two resolutions tonight for bond sale, bonds will be priced and sold towards the end of this month, and funds will be received in the bank account by mid-October. Staff recommends that the City Council approve and direct execution of bond documents to issue water revenue bonds with a principal amount not to exceed $16.5 million. This concludes my presentation, and the financing team is happy to answer questions.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. We're going with clarifying questions. Same order, different starting position. Council Member Tessick, clarifying questions at this time.

Yeah. It was... In our report, but I just want to confirm, these funds don't have any impact on our general fund. This is all enterprise funds completely. That's correct. Absolutely no impact on general fund. Not at all. Thank you. And the water rate study that we did and recently approved factored in these costs and repayment of this debt. That's correct. So it will be entirely within the enterprise fund and water rates and not in any way general fund. That's all I have. Yes.

Thank you. Excuse me. Council Member Nyberg.

Thank you, and thanks for the presentation. Let me just ask, the previous bond measure was in 2024, I believe, very similar to this one. Does this one differ in, Say overall material respects in any way from that previous bond release?

Yeah, this bond issuance, it's a smaller bond issuance. The last one, we received $90 million in bond proceeds, including premium. This one, it's about $15 million at this point. And the interest rates are higher today than about two years ago.

Okay, but the structuring, the involvement of all of the other parties and so on, is that pretty much the same? It's the same team, yeah. Okay. and my understanding is that we had as a council adopted or approved um a plan for issuance of bonds that could include up to four such issuances this being the second of potentially four uh spread out over time uh is that your understanding as well yes Okay. And could you bring up slide eight again on the priorities? I just wanted to look at those. Okay. So annual debt service must be balanced against three competing priorities. Yeah, and these are, you mentioned them, they're all extremely important. The selection of a 25-year term, as I understand it, compared to a 20-year term would Enable some flexibility to, as you say there in the first item, preserving sufficient annual cash flow to fund ongoing capital projects. Is that exactly what that means?

Yes.

Okay. And retaining the capacity for planned future debt issuances includes the capacity to make good on all of our debt service that's currently outstanding.

That's correct.

Okay.

Okay, I have another question.

Thank you very much. Councilmember Eicher?

Yes. So the interest rate that we're looking at paying, whether it's the 20 years, the 25 years, and the 30 years, is based upon our AA rating. Is that correct?

That's correct.

So how does the positive to stable aspect outlook affect that, or does it affect that at all?

It does not have material impact on the interest rate.

Okay. So that won't increase our interest rate as we move forward. That might be something that happens if we don't pull the trigger on this soon, if the feds are looking at increasing interest rates.

Right. That second comment is correct.

Okay. So according to the report, it looks like we have approximately, or at least at the end of 24, 25, 200 days cash on hand. With the water rate change, has that helped improve our situation at all?

We do expect that to improve in the next several years with a higher cash balance.

even with us approving the 25-year bond?

It will improve over time.

This is because we are only in year one of what are programmed to be four years of rate changes. Okay.

That's where I was going. So thank you. Those are the only questions I have. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. I think you've answered it, staff, but it sounds like we're, I guess I'm surmising, the 25 years seems to kind of balance exactly what the council brought up last time between the 20 and the 30 challenges we were waffling between. Did staff... I guess, is there any further conclusion as to why 25? 25 wasn't analyzed the first time. I'm just trying to understand the thought process that kind of landed us there. It does sound like a good balance. So any further information you want to provide on that?

25 years are not as common as 20 years and 30 years. Yeah. Yeah, that's why the first time, the 25-year repayment term was not presented.

Okay. Does it impact our ability to sell the debt and...

We don't expect that will have an impact. The financing team discussed that as well.

I apologize. I asked it to sell the debt, but I don't mean to sign the debt. I just meant sell the bonds, and you've answered it in that fashion, so I appreciate that. A 25-year term, as you said, not typical or more common. It doesn't impact the rate we'll receive other than just a standard pricing on the market, right? We're not receiving a penalty by doing 25.

No, no, no.

Okay. That's what I was trying to get to. Thank you so much. Okay. I actually have no further questions as well. We'll go to public comment on this item. So with that, I have no speaker cards. If you would like to speak on item number 22, $16.5 million in water revenue bonds and have not turned in a blue speaker card, please approach the podium at this time. Seeing none, any online? no speakers okay we'll close public comment bring it back to the council um i just want to mention that we will need two separate motions first is for the joint powers financing authority item number two and the second will be for city council item number 22 um so i'll just begin with as the joint powers financing authority is our motion for the item so moved all second Okay, we have a motion made and seconded. Any further comment before we take a vote? Hearing none, seeing none, we'll call vote, please.

Council Members Nyberg?

Aye.

Heiker?

Aye.

Testa? Aye. Mayor Balch? Aye. The motion passes unanimously.

Okay, thank you. Now, as the City Council, is there a motion for the item?

I'll move that motion.

Okay, I'll second it. Motion made and seconded. Any further comment before we take a vote? Hearing none, seeing none, roll call vote, please.

Councilmember Testa? Aye. Nybert?

Aye.

Iger?

Aye.

Mayor Balch?

Aye.

The motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. I do want to say thank you to the council and supporting team for this, our second one with you. Truly appreciate it. Truly appreciate the professionalism you've done helping guide Pleasanton through this with our Water Enterprise Fund, and hats off to our finance department. I'm sure a lot of work behind the scenes to bring this forward, so greatly appreciate it for Pleasanton's future. Thank you. I will now adjourn the Joint Powers Financing Authority meeting. And conclude my special script, okay that concludes the City Council item number 22 We're gonna We're gonna go ahead and proceed to item number 23 provide Correction to the city's voting delegation for the 2026 Cal cities annual conference General Assembly resolution at this time staff

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This item was initiated by council at your last meeting. This has to do with the upcoming Cal Cities Conference and consideration of a specific resolution that will be taken up at the during the business meeting at the conference. And so the request was to put this, or the direction was to put this onto your agenda for this evening so that council could discuss any specific direction that wanted to be given to our voting delegate which is councilmember Eichert and that will conclude our presentation okay thank you very much councilmember Nyberg any clarifying questions I don't really know if staff's gonna answer them but if you have them I

We'll just simply ask our city attorney if he has any comments on the matter before us from a legal perspective.

I do not at this point at the policy decision of the council. Okay, all right, thank you.

Yeah, I have no clarifying questions. I mean, we have the resolution here.

The packet was a long packet, but the resolution covers a page and a half of whereas is.

Um, okay. So, yeah, that's okay.

Council member Iker any clarifying questions. I have no, okay. Council member Tessa.

No, no questions.

Okay. I have a few questions, and I know it's a Cal City resolution, but I'll just ask our city attorney maybe, and if not, I understand Dan. It talks about supporting and developing changes to the process, but only then says Cal City should consider establishing a working group. So my question is, typically when we are endorsing a policy direction, we kind of try to look at the pros and cons before saying what to do. Do we know the pros and cons yet? Because the working group hasn't really started, right?

I am not sure what work Cal Cities has done on this. Either way, I don't know if there's any.

My understanding is that the reso essentially is intended to create the working group and that the working group will then take the matter up and decide whether or not or make a recommendation with respect to whether or not the league should take a further position. Okay.

And in the recitals, you know, where houses are typically recitals, it kind of speaks to another question for you. It kind of speaks to cities planning in good faith and maintaining adequate housing capacity. So I guess I'd like to know how is that evaluated as a recital or how is that evaluated for conformance or performance or any suggestion on that i i really don't have any insight as to how they crafted that recital or what they based it on okay uh sorry i'm going to ask you again do we know who would be a member of the working group would it be homeowners, renters, employers, employees. We don't have an idea of the composition of the working group. And I understand it's not our resolution, staff. I apologize.

And my impression is that the working group would be made up of representatives from various city members.

Okay. And then let me ask you this. Since it mentions a constitutional amendment in the resolution package drafted, If Cal Cities was going forward with a constitutional amendment to our constitution, would this council have another opportunity to evaluate that before we are part and parcel with it? There's another checkpoint, is there not?

Yes. I mean, if what is brought forward is a constitutional amendment, then, you know, presumably that would need to be something that would end up before the voters of the state of California.

So you would – this would – This doesn't bind us to that.

potentially to to take a position pro-con or or not okay I appreciate that and I know it's not our resolution so yeah councilmember digest also I imagine there would be a vote taken by the members of League California cities on whether to adopt any you know suggested proposed amendment that's correct

okay okay any further clarifying questions scene nine i'll open up to public comment yeah uh so with that uh if you would like to speak on item number 23 slightly mislabeled as 24 in our package but is item 23 on our agenda provide direction the city voting delegate for 2026 cal city's annual conference and have not turned in blue speaker card please approach the podium at this time Hearing none, seeing none, any online? None? Okay, we'll close public comment and bring it back to council. Council Member Nyberg, you're the starting position on this one.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, this is providing direction to our... Voting representative at the Cal Cities Conference next week when this proposed resolution will be considered. I'm the alternate voter, but I know Councilmember Eicher will be there. I felt and I think a lot of us felt that before the council votes or directs your consideration of such a vote at the meeting that we could provide direction to our member, our voting member as to how the council desires to vote as a whole. So that's why this is before us. The proposal stems from the overwhelming legislative effort over the past several years to strip cities like pleasanton of control over our local housing and zoning and we all up here seeing the effects of that in various decisions we've had to make over the last several years including at our very last meeting where um you know we have a housing element that required completion of a promise that was extracted by the Housing and Community Development Department on the part of the state that most of us didn't wish to make, but had to make anyway. And I recall the housing development on Hop Yard, same way. I believe it was an SB 330 project. We had no choice in the matter. It was a ministerial approval that the applicant had, by law, five chances to bring before the council, and on the fifth chance, if they didn't get approval, well, they get it automatically under state law. These are the kinds of things that cities have been subjected to and, frankly, set up to fail. There are probably 200 of these laws, if I had to guess, and I've heard that from others, that Cities all across California are facing all the time. Anyway, the maintenance of local control is one of the primary objectives of the League of California Cities, one of its missions. In fact, it states that right there on its website, is to advocate for local control. And I think this is just part of that, and that we should direct our voting member to vote yes on this resolution. Is that a motion?

I'll move, yes. I'll make that motion. Thank you. Council Member Eicher?

Yes. With the idea behind this, which is to restore local control to housing regulations, it would help limit what many believe to be state overreach in regards to mandates on how we handle our housing, the when and where and how. These things happen in our community. you know if if the league is successful in uh adopting uh or changing legislation it would improve our circumstances at a local level and i'm all for that um so yes i'll second the motion and uh support support it okay council member tessa um

This is an opportunity. It is simply an ask to form a working group, but it is the opportunity to have our lobbyist group, CalCities, work toward their mission statement, which is basically one sentence to to maintain local control on behalf of the 470 cities in California that they represent. And this simply says put together a working group, discuss what the best way of regaining housing and land use decisions. on behalf of cities. So I absolutely support the motion to send our voting delegate with the council decision on supporting that resolution.

Are you concluded?

That's it.

Okay. I'll just say thank you, staff, for trying to answer my questions. As I said, I know it's not CalCities. We're not CalCities, so it's difficult to know how it will play out. I'll begin by saying I understand the concerns behind the resolution. Communities do face different challenges, needs, water, infrastructure, public safety. And I have said before, and I believe it, that the state as broad and diverse as California, one size does not fit all. So local knowledge, leadership is important to maintain our character and our identity. And I think we see some of our housing product being produced now that doesn't necessarily look like some of the architecture we particularly enjoy in Pleasanton. At the same time, a constitutional amendment is a very serious item to me. I take that seriously. So before supporting a path that would generate that, I think we need to have all options available and understand the consequences or potential unintended consequences of it. So I'm not sure if that analysis is done yet. But that being said, the resolution is as stated, looking at a working group to strengthen local control. Again, I'd be more comfortable if I understood the analysis had been done before and what that means. I'll just also mention that we do need a strong partnership with the state. Pleasanton, our own groundwater project with Zone 7, benefited from a $1 million state grant for the feasibility study. Our significant portion of our community was recently spared damage from the Little Fire due to state firefighting assets via Cal Fire. Just some examples to the betterment of Pleasanton for being part of this beautiful state. I also believe that housing costs and lack of affordability is impacting us in ways that we don't truly appreciate. We often talk about teachers and firefighters. unable to afford homes, but many more are also impacted. Cooks, cleaners, medical technicians, seniors, young and old, and so many more who sustain the Pleasanton way of life. At community events and nonprofit events, I hear about them talking about how difficult it is to find volunteers, many times because the volunteers are now unable to afford to live here. I believe that we have an obligation of leaders to work towards solutions to support future generations. to help them have a fair opportunity to build the lives and their version of the American dream. So I do see the working group that brings different perspectives together to help find options as a valuable alternative. But local control to me comes with the obligation to use it responsibly to find solutions to achieve the best outcomes for our community, our full community. So I think we should try to do better I think we should try to be better. We'll be able to support the motion because, as I said, with a state as broad and diverse as California, one size, I do not believe, fits all. With that, we have a motion made and seconded. Roll call vote, please.

Council Members Nyberg?

Aye.

Can I say one last thing before we go? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, final comment? You were focused that way. So just for clarification's sake, in the resolution packet, it does say the League of California Cities support the development an advancement of a state constitutional amendment or other legislative policy or ballot-based strategies that restore and strengthen local authority over housing and land use. All of these would be a public process that would be disclosed to everybody in the state as opposed to just us locally. So this isn't something that's going to happen overnight. And they're looking at this, you know, whatever they... comes out of this process probably won't be available until the election cycle of 2030. So it will be a lengthy process to figure out what this turns out to be.

OK, well then I'm going to follow up. Thank you because that was absolutely the constitutional amendment is one of several identified suggestions and it is not limited to that. So having that complete discussion and. having our lobbyist organization really look at what option would best give us back our local control over our community's land use. Yes, absolutely. The 200 bills that have passed have not given us the ability to maintain the standard that our residents would like to have in Pleasanton. So thank you for making those points.

As well, least of all, creating affordable housing for the up and down the state. A lot of those bills that have passed that you mentioned Don't do anything for affordable housing.

And not only do they not do anything, they've reversed. I'm going to finish this one. They reversed our ability to achieve affordable housing, where in the fifth cycle, we were able to have 15% to 20% inclusionary depending on the product. and we achieved a good amount of affordable housing compared to our neighboring cities and many cities around the state. But at this point, the laws have gotten more and more and said that affordable housing is a barrier to production and removed our ability to do that. And right now there's a piece of legislation that will Say that not only do we have to allow a fee out pennies on the dollar alternative to affordable housing, but. Limit inclusionary to 5%. And so our state is not working on behalf of our. entry-level workers our first responders or our teachers or our next generation so we did better without those laws and it would be really to everyone's benefit to put reason back into housing and land use I'm done okay

Anyone else have any further comments for all being complete with your comments? Okay. Motion made and seconded. Let's go roll call vote, please.

Council members Nyberg.

Aye.

Eicher.

Aye.

Testa.

Aye.

Mayor Balch. Aye. The motion passes unanimously.

Okay. That completes item number 23. Thank you very much. And we're going to go on to matters initiated by council. Are there any matters initiated by the council at this time?

No.

Okay, seeing none, I have none as well. Council reports, brief reports on meetings attended. I think I'm back to Council Member Eicher.

Yes, on September 11th, I attended the LPFD 9-11 Memorial Ceremony at Fire Station 1, and on Monday, the 14th, I attended a LOFTA board meeting. Okay, Council Member Tessa.

I participated in commission interviews with the Mayor and myself, sat through a lot of interviews. I then Cal City's Council networking group I attended, more commission interviews, and then even more commission interviews. I attended the Scottish Games, a Valley Links meeting, the very nicely done, always meaningful 9-11 memorial, on 9 11 and i most recently attended i think that was just yesterday that we attended the lavta livermore amador transit authority meeting that's it councilmember nyberg

Yes, I also attended the 9-11 LPFT remembrance ceremony, a very meaningful ceremony. On the 9th, I also attended the Valley Link Board of Directors meeting. That same day, I drove to Hayward right after that and attended the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District meeting. And on the third, went to a pleasant ribbon cutting among little preschoolers at the Learn and Play Montessori on the one year anniversary of their opening.

Thank you. I attended three days of committee and commission interviews. We had again had 74 applicants for 23 internal and three external spots. Just amazing turnout. Appreciate everyone who applied. Just such excitement for Pleasanton's future. Also on the second, I attended Ava Community Energy's executive committee meeting. We are discussing executive compensation. On the fifth, I attended the 160th Scottish Highland Games and gathering with the opening ceremony, which was funny, and the kilted mile is a sight to behold. I'll just say it like that. On the eighth PUSD liaison meeting where crosswalk enforcement was discussed, I don't know if I'm going to steal the city manager's thunder, but our, do you have this item? I'll leave it for you. Okay, PPD did crosswalk enforcement two days. There was 60 citations the first day, 58 citations the second day, which is just amazing. So obviously the need for crosswalk enforcement. On the 8th as well, I attended and spoke at the Pleasanton's Lions Club. They are, I would say, reveling in the Lions Wayside Bandstand. They just raising money for the sound system there. On the 9th, AVA Community Energy Executive Committee meeting again related to executive compensation. On the 9th, Alameda County Mayor's Conference in Livermore hosting where we heard about the sales tax for BART and other transit authorities. On the 11th, Open Heart Kitchen's gala and support. On the 14th, Alameda County Transportation Commission Programs Committee, which was yesterday, talking about their capital resources and needs. City Mayor Brew.

Can I ask some follow-up on the crosswalk enforcement?

I was going to let him take it. I think he had the item.

Okay. I will ask questions following up on yours.

Okay. Yeah, we have the chief here, so I'm fine if you want to go ahead and

Police. Yeah, chief. Thank you. I appreciate you being here still this night.

Thank you. Specifically on the citations, were those actual paid citations or were they warnings or and were they being citations issued to the students then or to the parents? I'm a little confused what we're talking about.

It would be citations, so not warnings, that were issued. It was part of our site team, which is where all different cities come together, and it was our turn in Pleasanton. So it wasn't just Pleasanton. It was our neighboring agencies as well, and I think they had about 53 driver citations.

In addition to the, oh, so it was the drivers we were citing. Yes. Not walkers. Oh, okay. That makes a lot more sense. All right. And so can you just tell me what is the cost of a citation for that? I don't know. We don't. That's not something the police department does.

Okay. All right. All right.

I think crosswalk citations are fairly expensive, but I don't have the exact number.

So there was no notice or... in advance any kind of a, this is something we're gonna start taking seriously and beware, no.

I mean, we always take pedestrian dangerous violations seriously, so I would beware always for getting a citation if you're turning through a intersection or a crosswalk where a pedestrian is currently occupying it.

Okay, all right.

Or passing a vehicle that is stopped at a crosswalk It's also a fairly large citation.

Okay.

All right. Ignore the car behind you that's honking. Just ignore them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll follow the law. Okay. All right.

Thank you.

City Manager. All right. Well, thank you. Yes.

No, you did tick off quite a few of the boxes at the outset of the meeting. I'm sorry about that. So I'll just add a couple of things. I'll just mention I happened to notice when I was driving in this morning that We have a number of what are called DAX bots, which are small ADA robots that were in town today. Kind of felt like I was driving through a scene in Star Wars. It had a little yellow vest on, and it was going down the sidewalk. So we have been using six of them to systematically assess our sidewalks and our trails. This is part of our Americans with Disabilities Act self-evaluation and transition plan, and it's going to help us identify accessibility barriers and help inform future improvements that we make. So these little guys are going to be out there working through the end of November. If you see them, you know what they are. Interesting event that our police department is involved in coming up on October the 6th, and I think it's a great idea in partnership with Livermore PD and Las Positas College. On October the 6th, we're going to be hosting a free catalytic converter etching event. And if you've ever had your catalytic converter stolen off of your car and you know what's involved in the cost of having to replace that, you realize what a big deal it is. So this will be something that will be taking place from 8 to 1130 at Las Positas College at their automotive center, building 3500. The event is gonna be free, open to everyone, no residency requirement. Vehicles are gonna be taken first come, first serve. And what they're going to be doing is they will be etching ID or code numbers on to the catalytic converters of vehicles with the thought being that that is going to help deter theft by making those converters more difficult to resell. And it'll also help law enforcement agencies identify stolen catalytic converters. You talked at the outset about the coffee and cops coming back on the 7th, the downtown associations event coming up on the 3rd and the 4th. I'll mention historic walking tour of the Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery coming up on October the 8th. It is going to be taking place at 9 o'clock. and it's going to be hosted by local historian and volunteer Bill Rudolph, AKA General Pleasanton. So the event is, it's a free event, but you do have to sign up because it is limited to only 10 attendees. And then also mention that September the 19th is California Coastal Cleanup Day. You might ask, why do I have that on my calendar? Because we are not a coastal city. Well, this is an annual event that brings together volunteers across the state to help remove littered debris from beaches, lakes, creeks, and streams. Here in Pleasanton, Living Arroyos is hosting a local cleanup along Arroyo del Val near Main Street. So this will provide community members with an opportunity to volunteer, make a direct impact right here in town. They're going to be helping remove litter and debris from Arroyo del Val, supporting cleaner waterways and a cleaner community. So this is going to take place on Saturday, September the 19th from 9 until noon. We are encouraging residents, families, community groups to come out and volunteer and be a part of the effort. Last thing that I will mention is that the curtain is up on a new season at our Firehouse Arts Center. Live music, comedy, theater, and more coming in the fall. Something for everybody starts with a show called Valerie, which is a tribute to Amy Winehouse. This is coming up this weekend on the 18th. So for folks that might be watching the meeting would direct them to go to our website, see the full lineup of shows and activities coming up in the fall on through the end of the year, and encourage folks to buy tickets, go see a show. That concludes my report. Thank you very much.

I have a question.

Council Member Testa.

And this might be, again, our chief catalytic converters. I haven't heard as much lately. Are we still seeing, I know we cracked a couple of rings and maybe took out some of the offenders or thieves. Where do we stand? Are we still having a problem with that?

Once in a while, we do. We'll see an uptick and then go away, and then an uptick and then go away. So we do see them once in a while. So we are still, but nowhere to the level that it had gotten? Nowhere to the level that it had been a few years ago. Right.

Okay. All right. Great. Thank you.

I've had both my cars.

You what?

I've had both my cars kind of converted. So have I. Yeah. At Las Vegas College. Takes very little time. Yeah.

Oh, you had them etched.

You didn't have them stolen.

No, no, no, not stolen. Etched under the program.

It's also helpful because if we do stop a vehicle and it has a cut catalytic converter in the vehicle, it's difficult for us to find the victim of that. And so having a catalytic converter that we can connect to a victim is very helpful.

Sure, absolutely. I would love to have mine etched. All right, thank you.

Anything else? Council Member Tessa, anything else?

No, nothing.

Okay, thank you very much. Councilmember Eicher, take us out, please.

The Pleasanton City Council joins this meeting with a tribute to our nation's men and women serving in the military. And with gratitude, every United States veteran who has bravely answered the call to serve. Further, we wish to honor the memories of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts both past and present in defense of our country.