City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the April 21st, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. Let the record reflect that all council members are present tonight. Votes this evening will be recorded using the city's electronic voting system. At this time, the city council will convene to consider public matters. If you wish to speak, please fill out a blue speaker card and provide it to the city clerk. If you wish to submit any written materials, please provide those to the city clerk. They will be distributed to the city council. As required by state law, when speaking on an item listed on the agenda, limit your comments to the subject of the item. If you wish to speak on a subject that's not on the agenda, you may speak under the public comment portion of this meeting. Finally, please address your comments to the city council. Staff will only respond to questions from the city council, not from public speakers. Now, we'll move on to the invocation. The invocation tonight will be provided by Pastor Walmer Land Verde from Saddleback Church. Thank you everyone. Um, I invite everyone to uh to pray with me. Uh, heavenly father, we come here before you tonight with gratitude for the city of Lake Forest, its leaders, its families, and every person who calls this community home. We thank you for the opportunity to gather, to serve, and to seek the good of this city. We ask for your wisdom over this council meeting that everybody um that every decision made will be guided by integrity, clarity, and genuine desire to serve the common good. Grant our leaders discernment, humility, and unity. Help them to listen well, to lead with compassion, and to act with courage for what is right and just. We

pray for peace over Lake Forest, for safe neighborhoods, strong families, thriving businesses, and a deep sense of community. May this city be a place where people feel seen, supported, and hopeful. Bless the work being done tonight. In your name we prayed. Amen. Amen. Thank you. So, we move on to the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of our country will be led by Cub Scout Pack 765. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good job. Good to see you guys.

All right. Ready? And three, two, one. 3, two, one. Well, we'll move on to presentations. Do I have a motion to consider approving presentation number one? Presentation. Second. All right, we have a first and a second. Let's vote.

And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Madam City Clerk. Please read the title of item number one. The title of item number one is the proclamation declaring April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day. Thank you, Mr. Assistant city manager, please introduce this item. Uh, this is the proclamation declaring April 30th, 2026 as National Therapy Animal Day, and I'll turn it back over to the mayor. All right. Thank you. Um, well, before um anybody speaks, is there anybody that wants to request to speak on this item?

We do have one public commenter, and that is Andrew O' Conor. Okay. Thank you, Mayor Andrew Conor, Foothill Ranch. As far as this declaration tonight, I'm sure it's welld deserved and the consent can calendar. Tonight you'll have another proclamation which I believe is welld deserved. But I've brought it up before and I think it needs to be brought up again that people in the city including myself and I've documented the numbers and it's annoyed the mayor. He went through it and said oh I won't go there. But this is my plea once again. And I think the people that submit ELF tickets should be recognized. And I sure you have the database of many people. If you want to take me off, take me off. I don't care. But I'm sure there's a lot of people that want our city to be better and use it. It's a fantastic app. I really like it. It's easy to use. I use it at home. I use it mobile. So again, remember, City of Mission Viejo gave me a certificate.

Mr. Okconor, does this have anything to do about National Therapy Day? I knew you were going to go there, mayor. So, it doesn't. Okay. Well, thank you for your comments. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the time you did give me. I'm surprised you gave as much as you did. Thank you. That's it, Mayor. Okay. Colleagues, anything? So, I'd like to ask um one of the commissioners, Zia Jones, to come up with her her dog. I call it little Santa's Little Helper from the Simpsons. But what's the name again? Jake.

Jake is coming up. So, my colleagues So, I did so I did have a resident ask me about what's the difference between therapy dog, emotional support dog, or other dogs. So, there are other dates for that. This one specifically is on April 30th. Uh, so if you want to speak on Jake, Santa's little helper. No, I just want to thank the city for the recognition. Um, Jake is a therapy dog who lives in Lake Forest. He visits hospitals and schools and city council meetings. And I just want to thank you for recognizing the work that he and other therapy dogs do for the community. You're

welcome. Let's take a picture. All right. Ready? And three, two, one.

3, two, one. And 3, two, one. Cool. Now, the next item is public comment, but prior to uh us doing public comment, I'm going to ask uh Captain Pulse Oh, thank you. to come up and uh give us some information.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. On April 16th, we had a terrible tragedy happen in another community where a 81-year-old man was struck by a juvenile on an ebike and that subject was transferred to the hospital where he was in critical condition. Uh first of all, my prayers go out to that victim and his family. I wish him a quick recovery and a full recovery. Um this incident has already been talked about a lot on social media. We did a press release ourselves. I'm not going to get into it too much. However, what I do want to say is that we have a major accident investigation team who does these types of investigations. That team did an outstanding job. They identified that subject. They served a search warrant. They took him into custody. What has not been discussed yet is that today that juvenile's mother was arrested uh for many charges including two felony charges and they include accessory after the fact and child endangerment.

Want to speak about briefly about how the sheriff deals with our response to ebikes. So, we've always put education first and enforcement second, and that is still our tactic. So, there are some pamphlets in the back that tells you about ebikes and their classifications and how they're illegal and how they can be legal and illegal, the difference, which as a parent, we expect you to know and be responsible for your child. We have a bunch of those in the back tonight if anybody wants those. We're also available. All that information is on oshi sheriff.gov. Um there's other public domains that also share the same information. Since ebikes have emerged, the sheriff's department has had the same path and that's I just spoke about with education enforcement. We write tickets. We tow illegal ebikes. And recently over the past couple days since this incident, we've towed a number of ebikes. This was not due to more aggressive enforcement on our part. I'm happy to say it was actually due to more public collaboration where people reached out to us identifying where some illegally bikes were. So, we took enforcement action and that's what I'd like to see more in the future where we identify these bikes. We can go take these bikes because they're illegal. What we do is we tow them per the vehicle code and that way we avoid what we don't want to do and that is we do not want to pursue children through traffic and have a terrible incident occurred like occurred last week and that is why we stick with education. We do enforcement when necessary and we strongly encourage parents to educate their children on these ebikes and how to be responsible motorists. It is the inherent responsibility of parents to keep their children safe. Teaching them the rules of the road and

how to navigate safely while being mindful of others is one of the many important lessons. Giving them the means or allowing them to ride an electric motorcycle on city streets puts them and others in danger. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Captain. So, um, we can't ask you any questions because it's not agendaized, but we really thank the Orange County Sheriff's Department for what they're doing, and hopefully they continue to do it, and hopefully your briefing tonight kind of sends a message to the city of what what the sheriff's department's doing. So, thank you. So, now we'll move on to public comment. If you would like to make a comment, please fill out a blue speaker card and give it to the city clerk and your name would be called. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. The staff and council will not respond to questions or comments during the public comment period. If you leave your address, if you leave your contact information, the um staff may contact you to address issues raised during your comment. When you're called to speak, come to the podium. Your three minutes will begin when the green light is on. The green light will remain on for two minutes. When the light changes from green to yellow, speakers have one minute left to conclude their comments. When the light changes from yellow to red, your time has concluded and please return your seat. A timer is not displayed on the screen. Madame city clerk, have we had any request to speak?

We do. We have uh eight general public commenters and our first public commenter is Christine Tabar. Mr. Mayor, council members, uh, captain, thank you all for being here tonight and allowing me to speak. Um, I've been a resident of Lake Forest for about 10 years, and until about 10 days ago, it was a safe, family-friendly city to raise my family. Uh, that all changed on Saturday, April 11th. That afternoon, my husband and I were intimidated and assaulted by a gang of kids on ebikes. As we drove home from our 10-year-old's soccer game headed down Serrano towards Lake Forest in front of Lomadera Elementary School, we heard the motors from these bikes coming around the bend, and one of the riders was coming straight at us doing a wheelie on the wrong side of the road. My husband honked to alert the rider that he was headed straight into oncoming traffic and we were promptly assaulted by the gang who threw an egg that hit us head on the driver's side door of our vehicle. Um, for the record, those are the photos that I provided. Uh, right driver side door right under the sorry rearview mirror. They then proceeded to turn around and follow us down the street towards Lake Forest, throwing another egg that hit the driver's side tail light. These bikers were all in black hoodies, hiding their faces, trying to be anonymous for the intent of committing crimes. There are no license plates and no identifying features on these bikes. The only identifier was the hoodie with the phrase, "That's an awful

lot of cough syrup that was being worn by one of these children." They are looking for trouble and they are breaking the law. A police report was filed. You can imagine our shock, disappointment, and disbelief when the sheriff said that there was nothing they could do. Nothing that they could do. I'll say it again. These are minors committing felonies on motorized vehicles and there's nothing that the authorities can do to stop them is what we are led to believe. Just three days ago, as we're driving around in Foothill Ranch with our windows down, we saw two other ebikers riding recklessly, making illegal maneuvers on their bikes, doing wheelies, and we heard one of them say, "Don't worry. They have to watch out for us. These kids are brazen and they know that they can do anything they want in those in the street on their motorized vehicles with no licenses. I'm sure by now you've all heard about the tragedy that occurred in front of El Toro High School last week. An 81-year-old substitute teacher, war veteran, beloved community member is currently fighting for his life after suffering a head injury and compound leg.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Sharon Breimer. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. My name is Sharon Bryimer and I'm here representing the Prothro HOA and the residents of Pro Mobile Estates. We have been working for several years to address ongoing traffic and safety concerns on Raymond Way. We have sent multiple emails, ALF tickets, and submitted a petition in July of 2025 with about 70 signatures. The city has responded to most of my emails and ALF tickets and taken some helpful steps. We've seen the street reme-measured to ensure it complies with regulations. A red curb was added at the Rush Bar and recently the a couple months ago red curbing along Raymond Way was repainted and we appreciate the quick response to this item. and the curbs um needed to be repainted because they were blackened from the vehicles parking in the red curb area. The current ordinance does not really solve our problems. Item uh two, which requires vendors to remain 250 ft from the library, is limited in effectiveness because it applies only during uh library operating hours. The library is open until 7:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5:00 p. p.m. Friday and Saturday, and closed on Sundays. Truck vendors typically set up around 400 p.m., which means the restriction has little impact. Second, there's a the 50-foot spacing between vendors. We've come across something that was quite interesting. I think the personal vehicles of the vendors are being parked earlier in the day to hold the space along the entire section where the food trucks park. This effectively gives the vendors a

private parking on public streets which limits residents access. There are also safety concerns, bright lights, people going in and out of traffic, not looking. I personally have probably missed any number of people uh because they don't look when they walk out. The section of Raymond Way has an inherent design constraints and cannot easily be fixed. We have been told that reconstruction is out of the question. It is a s short stretch. There are seven exits and entrances on that portion of Raymond Way. Additionally, when large delivery trucks are parked along the library side is often a navigational nightmare. That's why we're recommending a practical solution. We would like a red curb along that side of Raymond Way or no parking at all or limited parking. We know that you can do it because across from the li uh post office on Draymond Way, the curb opposite the post office has no parking anytime uh signs. We respectfully urge the city to take more.

Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Klaus Tar. Repeat.

Honorable mayor, council members, my name is Klaus Tabar. My family and I have been residents of the city of Lake Forest for 43 years. We've watched it grow from a little town to what it has become today. I also happen to be a member of the Stars Lake Forest Sheriff's Team for a number of years. So, uh, I'm before you again. I'm speaking on behalf tonight of the Helinga family, who is also a resident of Lake Forest here for 15 years. Uh, John Helinga, uh, is unable to speak tonight because he's got a work obligation. So, if you'll allow me to read, um, John Helinga is a 15-year resident of Lake Forest whose home backs up to Pittsford Park. Unfortunately, he's out of town for work, but feels this is important enough to bring the council's attention. There's a specific and uh growing e motorcycle, not ebicycle, e- motorcycle danger on our streets, and that has become a safety concern for the family, walking his children to and from Lake Forest Elementary every day of the school year, as well as living directly next to where the kids have made jumps in Pittsford Park. uh he has finished an almost daily experience with this issue. The dangerous trend has nothing to do with traditional cycling. They are seeing groups of 10 or more miners with high-powered electrical motorcycles taking over public roadways and parks. These groups are operating out of class vehicles like surons and taller that can exceed 40 and 50 miles per hour. They create hostile environments. This isn't just about traffic safety. It's about behavior. The large group who frequents Pittsford Park have surrounded and threatened John with physical violence as well as saying they know where I live and threatened sexual assault on his grade school daughter, my granddaughter. These groups are turning our public

sidewalks and parks into places of intimid intimidation rather than community. a cyclist. As a cyclist alongside a 12-year-old frequent our be beautiful trails on mountain bikes, I feel the need to stress that the council must be cognizant of the difference between e motorcycles, the class one and class 2 pedal assisted bicycles used by law-abiding outdoor enthusiasts and our seniors, my retired neighbors included, getting exercise on Srano Creek Tail and the trails of Whiting Ranch. Emotos are motorcycles. These are high torque machines without pedals. They're motor vehicles being operated by unlicensed miners on city streets and in pedestrian spaces. Pedal assist bicycles are mobility. Genuine ebikes are capped at 20 m an hour and require pedaling. They behave as bicycles and belong on our trails and paths. Lumping these two groups together punishes law- abiding residents while failing to address the actual safety. Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Andrew O' Conor.

Andrew Oconor, Foothill Ranch since 1990. That makes 36 years. And uh I talked to Doug earlier about the progress on the intersection of Bay and Tribuko and it looks like it's going along pretty good, but he kind of broke my enthusiasm. He says, "Well, it won't be done until June 26." I'm like, "Doug, it just looks like it needs some asphalt and it's done." He goes, "No, not yet." So, Doug, can you move that thing along? Um, thanks to my councilman, Mr. Serbo for reaching out to me quickly on my concerns about city, what is it? Cityside fiber, whatever. They did their trenching, which I thought was pretty cool. One of their equipment, they have a vacuum machine. So when that machine's digging down, trenching, it goes into a vacuum truck. Okay, that's pretty cool. And then when they do the concrete, they got another pretty nifty machine that gets it off the big truck and puts it in there and it funnels it in there. These guys are doing good, but why are they going to come and slurry our street? Why are they coming back into our neighborhood? It's not a big deal, but Mr. Sur said he didn't tell me. So, if you can work on it, Mr. S, I appreciate it. Um, I'd like to give a shout out to Kevin, our finance director. I don't want to say his last name because I don't think I know how to say it right, but I know you guys are always saying we're the best run financially and all that. I give it to Kevin because I don't know if you read the headlines, our neighbor Irvine is reporting what deficit $6 billion deficit. So all the stuff they give away and if they don't catch it quick, they're talking 135 million. So kudos to you guys, but I have to give it

to Kevin. He's the finance guy. So good to hear about that. Coincidentally, Councilman Voits when I walked in the front door and what's the issue I've been talking about for two years? Those 88 doors don't work, folks. you know, I've reached out to different people and they've answered back to me and and Councilman Voit says, "I've said the same thing." Okay, so what happens someone from outside the city coming in with a disability that doesn't work? Come on. What? We got a multi-million modern facility and our ADA doors won't work, right, Councilman Voites? You were there. Uh, homeless is becoming an issue. Uh, Councilman Voice just coming home tonight or coming down here tonight. Portrol beg there's a mail right there in the median. You know, I I don't know what to do, but the virus is moving up to us. I've, you know, how many pictures I sent to you, so I couldn't go on the DAP because I was in trans, but I just won't let you know that was happening.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Dolores Marie Douly. I believe that everybody's fully aware about the ebike incident, but I'm talking about these sirons and and how these kids are getting a hold of them at the age of 14 and younger and using them to harass the public. I have lived in the city of Lake Forest for 46 years. We're very active with trash walkers. We know both Mayor Scott and Robert and we know that this city is can do better and is better. But we want to know is how are these kids getting these vehicles at under the age? When my daughter purchased her two ebikes for her two daughters, they would not sell them to her until they proved they were 16 years of age. They're very responsible girls. These boys are not responsible. When my husband pulled out to go to a doctor appointments before Ed Ashman was hit by a ebike, he had confronted this young boy doing willies down the middle of El Toro Road. And when he honked at this boy to shame him into what he had been doing, his favor was to flip my husband off. They're arrogant and they have this idea that it's okay for us to tell the old people off. I believe that Lake Forest does a great job for us in the community, but we need to really do something to address these bikes.

and thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Brian McMillan.

Hello, my name is Brian McMillan. Seems like I'm the only advocate for um uh personal services businesses in the city, mostly Asian, as you know. uh August 19th, 2025, the city recommended a moratorum of massage businesses because obviously all massage businesses are immediate and serious dangers to the community. This report obviously authored by the city attorney and I know this because the person who presented it had no idea what was in the report and also I won't go there. uh that report was attempting to make the connection of personal services businesses to directly to prostitution. It also uh tried to draw the connection between the number of massage businesses uh equaling prostitution. Um this is all lies. Point of fact, as you know, we have been able to uh um get information that's not public uh through other means. Um and I I I'll prove it tonight. Um before you is part of the agenda is a chart that I sent in earlier today that shows the number of massage businesses in surrounding cities and other business and other cities in the country. The average number of m massage businesses around the country equals about a thousand uh people per massage business. That includes Provo, Utah. That includes Birmingham, Alabama, uh in the middle of the Bible belt. That includes uh Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is the uh

center of the Menanite uh population. These are ultraconservative populations. And uh the city of Lake Forest doesn't have a thousand people per massage business. It has 5,000 5,000 people per massage business. This is nuts. Let it go. Reverse this stupid ordinance that you've done. uh and and put aside your prejudices and racism to uh uh to make this happen. You know, if if for no other reason, your own personal public service uh careers. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Our next public commenter is Mark Hermanson.

Councilman, you you're looking kind of sharp there tonight. Uh, when this accident happened with the ebike, I probably reacted like everybody else and had a lot to say about the kids on the ebikes. I've dealt with them. The problem is afterwards, I started reading the social media comments. And there are people who basically wanted this kid lynched through the city streets. And this is going to be unpopular. We are talking about a 14-year-old kid. They are not known to make the best decisions in life, which is why we don't let him have firearms, why we don't let him drive, and why we don't let him vote. The next comments I read were basically they wanted his parents lynched. From what Captain Pulitz said tonight, I'm guessing this is a one parent household, probably a mom who knew nothing about these things. Yes, I'm angry that someone who wore the same uniform I did is hurt. But I think everyone needs to take a step back and think for a minute. Yeah, these kids are out of control. We know this. Things have to be done and they have to be done legally. The other comments of where is our city attorney? Where is our city manager? Where are our city council? Well, the last time I checked, the people in this room cannot override California laws. We just don't have the power to do it. and the laws are behind the technology that's out there. U hopefully maybe we can do some things to remove the ebikes from city property. But we all know if the sheriffs chase one of these kids and they get splattered by a car, the next thing we're going to have is a social justice warrior in here suing for everybody that they didn't need to have a chase. There are problems. They cannot be

solved overnight and we all have to stop and think for a minute. Uh I feel bad for this person and I hope he recovers well. But there are three victims here. The kid whose life is pretty much destroyed, the mothers whose life is pretty much destroyed and the person sitting in a hospital room. So we do need to all think about everything. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. And our last public commenter is Neil Patel.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor Peno, council members, uh, assistant city manager and captain, city staff. My name is Anil Patel. I've been a resident of Lake Forest for 18 years, uh, living in district 3. Uh like many in our community, uh I've spent the past few days reflecting on uh Ed Ashman. Uh as you all know, last Thursday, April 16, uh while walking home from El Toro High School, he was uh struck by an ebike uh at Ridgeout and Toledo Way.

Uh it was uh later determined to be officially a highway motorcycle. Thank you. He remains in critical condition. While these details are difficult to speak of and to listen to, uh, what has stayed with me the most is the person at the center of it. Tonight, I simply want to make take a moment to reflect on his life and to ask that we as a community uh, keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Uh, I don't person I didn't personally know Ed Ashman and so I'm relying on some information that's publicly available and I hope I do justice in describing uh, the man. Ed Ashman is an 81-year-old uh Vietnam War pilot uh who served our country with courage and honor. Uh and even after a lifetime of service, he chose not to step away from giving, but rather uh chasing it and helping out other students and people. Uh he served his retirement years as a substitute teacher at El Toro High School, continuing to show up for young people, continuing to mentor, and continue to care. uh to his students. He wasn't just a substitute. He was a familiar face, a steady presence, someone who made a difference uh by being quiet and and being very consistent. Uh beyond that, he's a center of a loving family, a devoted husband, a father of three, and a proud grandfather. Right now, that family is gathered around him in the hospital uh facing uncertainty not that no other family truly uh is prepared to handle. I just want to mention that there is a GoFundMe uh account that's set up for him. Uh please look up support for Ed Ashman, veteran, teacher, fighter. Uh I thank you for your time and uh please keep Ed Ashman and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. That's it, mayor. Okay. Thank you. We'll move on to the consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendars are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the city council or staff request specific items be removed from the consent calendars for separate action. Have there been any requests to remove any of the items? We do have public comment on consent calendar item number five. Okay. Do I hear a motion for the Yeah, I'll move the remainder of the consent calendar, please. I'll second that. Okay, let's vote.

Thank you. And the motion for the remainder passes unanimously and read the the title of item number five. And the title of item number five is the contract change order number 14, Lake Forest Sports Park HVAC Retrofit Project 26FO4. And our first public commenter on that is Andrew O' Conor. I prefer Morris to go ahead.

Apparently our first public commenter for that is Marcel the 14th. Master Lou the 14th uh 27 resident of Foot Hybranch. Good evening everybody, Mr. Mayor. Good to see you. Uh I wanted to talk on the the contract the um I guess it's the hang change order that came in for $81,000. Um I'm just going based off the information that was available. First of all, we looked at the scope of work and it's entitled turnkey installation. Now in the engineering business, turnkey installation means you don't have to do anything. It's done. Everything's installed. You walk in, turn the keys, everything works. However, the scope of work excludes a number of items which is kind of concerning. For instance, electrical upgrades are excluded. Title 24 acceptance is excluded. Third party testing is excluded. ADA ADA requirements are excluded. Building permits are excluded. So the contractor when they go in and they do their survey for the HVAC systems will know air balancing and will know exactly what they need to put in the size of the air conditioning units the air balance the pressure within the building. So to go back and say well now we need to put in this these circuits for this exhaust system should have been part of the original scope. So I'm wondering what happened why was this not included in the original bid? So now you're going to pay for the additions, but who's going to do the electrical work? Are you going to now need another contractor to come in and do the electrical work, which is going to be another change order? So I'm just curious, maybe you can light me and fill me in on some of the details on that, but it just seems like this should not have been a change order. This should have been covered in the first original bit within the scope. Um, that's basically all I have on that stuff. Um, apologize for not going into even deeper detail, but going too technical, I think, would be too much for everybody in here. I do want to thank the mayor. Um I sent you an email in regards to the um one of the items on the agenda and you responded and I was

stunned, totally amazed and I do appreciate that you're the first mayor has responded back to an email and I certainly do appreciate and hope to continue that dialogue with you. Gentlemen, thank you so much. Thank you for your comments.

Last public commenter on this item is Andrew O' Conor. Andrew O' Connor, Foothill Ranch, a mayor and city council. As Marcel passes the baton to me because he went all over all the technical information. I want to address this thing about contract orders and that they change. It's a pattern in this city. I don't care what vendor we do, there's always, oh, there's a change order. Go back to that huge contract we would did with economics that oversaw the CRNR contract. Huge amount, six figures. Sure enough, oops, change order. Time and time again, change order. I'm grateful that Marcel came up and spoke because he spoke from a technical perspective because he knows this stuff. He was on the HOA board at Foothhill Ranch and I'm grateful for his technical knowledge when we changed the fountains at Bake Parkway in Fortuna. He was very instrumental to getting the right equipment in there and he's very instrumental to read this stuff. He says, "Whoa, wait a minute. This should have been in initially." And I have to agree with him. Seems like it should be if it's a turn key. But once again, a contractor comes back and says, "Oh, change order." And the five of you don't go to the city manager and say, "What's this all about? Why is this happening?" Oh, but you say it's 80,000. You know what? 80,000 here. We're going

to see 150,000 from Cosbot in a few minutes. We're now we're up to a quarter of a million. Gentlemen, this can't continue. But it does. and I bring it up and I explain it to you and nothing happens. So again, Marcel, thanks for bringing the technical. You pass the baton to me. I'm just wondering here we go again. Another change order that the five of you don't challenge a city manager on like why? Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. That's it, mayor. Okay, I'll entertain an item. U move item number five from the consent calendarer. Second item. Okay, we have a motion in a second. Let's vote.

And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We'll move on to discussion items. Madame city clerk, please read the title for item number eight. The title of item number eight is the analysis of the city's industrial and business park inventory and trends. Thank you. Uh Master Mr. uh assistant city manager, please introduce this item.

Uh good evening, mayor, members of the city council. I'm going to bring up uh our management analyst, Ariana Young from our development service department, and she'll give you a short presentation. Good evening, Mayor Peno and council. Tonight, consultant Cosmont Companies will give a final presentation on an analysis of industrial and business park inventory and trends. Before handing it over to Cosmont, I will provide a quick background to bring us up to speed. In October of 2025, the city hired Cosmont to conduct an analysis of industrial and business park inventory and trends with the goal of identifying Lake Forest position and assessing opportunities in the southern Orange County market. Cosmont provided an update of the analysis to the city council on January 20th, 2026. And as of April, uh, comprehensive market research has been conducted. Those findings will be presented tonight by Cosmon's vice President Andrew Perez. We also have President Kenha in the audience. And with that, I will hand it over. Thank you, mayor, council members. I'm Andrew Perez. I'm joined by president of Cosmon Companies, Kenhira. Uh we will both be going over our latest findings of our analysis and providing some considerations at the end. So I'll start off with our scope of work. Our analysis is separated into eight key tasks. It took about six months to complete our entire um scope of work and we've completed these tasks and are here to present a summary of the findings and as I mentioned

considerations. Uh, I do want to draw everyone's attention to the study area, especially those highlighted up at the top because I'm going to be talking about those shortly as there's a lot of history within the city about how the industrial actually came about to be in uh the city of Lake Forest. So, as we mentioned back in January, the entire county of Orange has a sizable industrial and flex inventory at over 305 million square feet. South County, which includes Lake Forest, has about 47 million square feet or 15% of the total county inventory. Unlike other OC markets such as North County or even the airport area, South County is less connected to logistics infrastructure like rail or freight hubs and uh certainly the airport as well. Access to these hubs drives the type of industrial demand we see in Lake Forest and elsewhere in the county. As you may know, Lake Forest industrial identity is rooted in the legacy of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. opened in 1943. It really served as the base's historic flight path shaped uh excuse me the flight paths of the historic base shaped the land uses and surrounding areas particularly Baker Ranch and Pacific Commerce Center because of the noise contour established at that time. You can see that in the yellow there and again that's really where uh the study area was established for us to to look into. These zones these zones were designated for commercial industrial use rather than uh residential development. As a result, the city experienced the creation of many skilled jobs and businesses located in smaller to midsize buildings as opposed to companies housed in large scale logistics warehouses like those found in the Inland Empire or even Long Beach. Excuse me. When we zoom out to compare the city with other South County submarkets, Lake Forest and Foothill Ranch collectively represent the second largest industrial inventory in the region at 9.6 million square feet. only the Irvine spectrum submarket is larger.

This confirms Lake Forest's strength as a key industrial node within the region, one that offers a substantial home base for employers that focus on skilled jobs like engineering and research and development or R&D. Looking at building size distribution, over half of Lake Forest industrial and flex buildings are under 50,000 square feet. This demonstrates the market is oriented towards small and mid-size companies as I mentioned previously such as owner users, smaller manufacturers, and local distributors rather than large-scale tenants seeking hundreds of thousands of square feet. This also naturally means that there are fewer vehicle trips from large trucks because the city's inventory isn't built to support that type of activity in comparison to some cities in the Inland Empire which see more heavy traffic uh truck usage. In fact, about 12% or three buildings in total of the city's inventory are about 300,000 square feet or or larger. All three are concentrated in the Foothill Ranch area, one on Town Center Drive and two along Icon Street. The largest one being the Oakley building at just under 579,000 ft. The other buildings are occupied by multiple smaller users. I think that's a key distinction to make too, just briefly. The buildings here, even though they are large, most of the time you cannot occupy by one single user. has to be usually multi-tenant users. Uh in the case of some industrial buildings within the urbine spectrum, you do find larger users and they can occupy an entire building. Uh similar to the Inland Empire, you have Amazon occupying a million square feet. That's not the case here. That's very different from here. Usually it's multi-tenant and it's uh divided up in into one building. Uh this was further emphasized in our discussion with brokers and architects. We talked to them because we really wanted the qualitative insights. They are on the ground and they they see this every day. Um they emphasized that Lake Force is not a logistics market. As I mentioned, it doesn't compete with the inland and power port cities. Instead, the city attracts smaller firms in R&D

and light manufacturing. As I previously highlighted, owner users are particularly drawn to the area due to its skilled labor force and businessfriendly environment. While many buildings are not classified as class A, which is more of a function of how tall the building is and the turning radius and truck bays, the properties in this market are still seen as highly functional, well-built buildings that are in demand. Potential changes to the city's future inventory will likely emerge from redevelopment of aging stock or modernization to accommodate more tech centered uses. So, next we'll be getting into some of the more recent findings of our analysis. Last time we were here, you all asked some great questions that we had a chance to incorporate into our analysis. And so I'll be going over some of those findings and then also some considerations to follow. So I know there's a lot of text on this. I just want to kind of focus in on a couple things here. Uh our first set of additional research we wanted to share with you this evening relates to the diversity of industry sectors within the city. Excuse me. According to census data, industrial and business parks are integral to Lake Forest, with roughly half of the city's workforce, tied to some sort of industry sector that is most likely located in industrial or business parks within the city. Census data also showed that the employment base is not determined or dominated by a single industry, but rather a diverse mix of sectors. This includes management, professional service related companies, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail. All of which rely on industrial space in different ways. This type of diversity in industry sectors is important as it creates economic stability and reduces dependence on any one sector. Another important dynamic we delved into further within our analysis was how many people commute in and out of Lake Forest for work. According to census data, again, every day more than 33,000 workers commute into the city, which affects a strong job demand. For reference, the city of Irvine has a net inflow of workers of over 150,000,

underscoring its role as a major job center in Orange County, but the city of Lake Forest is right behind it, largely from the employment base, again, mostly coming from these industrial and business park areas. Now, this is important to note because these incoming workers are highly educated, which aligns with the advanced sectors shown in the previous slide. This is important because these are people who have disposable income to spend money in the city throughout a typical work week, lunch, breakfast, that sort of thing. And so, uh, we want to make sure we're capturing those and understanding that that demographic. One of the questions you all asked us to dig into was how industrial impacts the general fund. From a fiscal standpoint and using the city's annual comprehensive financial report, our analysis discovered that industrial spaces in the city play a very important role from a property tax perspective. As you can see from the pie chart on the left, property tax remains the backbone of the general fund. Additionally, on the right, although it's not the number one contributor to property tax, you can see that industrial is very important is a very important land use to the overall fiscal health of the city. Less known but likely contributing modestly to the city's sales and use tax portion are the point of sale transactions also occurring among companies located in these industrial and business parks. So while they may not generate the highest visible revenues like retail or hotels which tend to typically fluctuate the pandemic being one uh sign of that as well the industrial really stays stable. It's stayed stable and it's provided a very fiscally uh stable um source of revenue. But in addition to that, it's also providing jobs uh economic output in terms of goods being made there, services being offered within the four walls of uh many of these industrial and business park buildings. As part of our scope, we also value the city's industrial using a SWAT analysis or what we call strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats analysis. Overall, Lakes Forest industrial base

has several clear strengths that position position it well into the future. It supports high-quality jobs in sectors like technology, research, and advanced manufacturing. It also reinforces the city identity identity as a regional employment hub in South Orange County. At the same time, there are some challenges or weaknesses to keep in mind. Overall, the city's industrial buildings tend to be smaller and slightly older, which may at some point require ongoing investment and modernization to m maintain its competitiveness and functionality with other industrial markets like the Irvine Spectrum area. Additionally, industrial trends tend to be less visible as an asset or perceived to be a less important land use to the public compared to retail or housing developments. This is a misperception that takes time and leadership to help clarify to stakeholders in the community. Looking ahead, there are clear opportunities to build on the city's strengths. Emerging sectors like advanced manufacturing, clean tech, and R&D are well aligned with the city's existing industrial building stock. This provides an opportunity to continue positioning Lake Forest as a center for innovation in manufacturing. Which brings me to another question you asked as it asked us related to the impact of AI on the city's industrial. Interestingly, the AI trend has been closely linked to what is referred to as smart manufacturing which is essentially a focus on combining both the physical and digital processes within an operation. So there are things like automation, datadriven approaches to production and then using real-time analytics to continue optimizing operations. This is happening on a daily basis in a lot of the the buildings and industrial buildings that are in uh in the city. So at a strategic level, the city can view AI not as a disruptor of its industrial base but more as more of an accelerator of its current tenant profile. These systems require highly connected tech- enabled facilities rather than large footprints which aligns with the city's inventory of smaller adaptable industrial spaces. From our analysis, appears the most important infrastructure to support

these uses is fiber internet for the purposes of speed and bandwidth and general access to power. So long-term, we think this means some opportunities including continue to update in internet infrastructure to fiber optic as the city has been doing the past couple of years through Fiber City. Also encouraging existing property owners to reinvest and modernize their properties to continue attracting new developers, excuse me, new employers looking to be in the area. Lastly, just as just some threats to keep in mind, the city is operating operating in a highly competitive regional environment. Nearby markets offer newer facilities, albeit at higher prices, while inland areas offer lower costs. Rising construction costs may further complicate redevelopment feasibility for the city's property owners. Although it generally seems to align with companies in the city, the impacts of AR are still unknown and remain unseen. uh especially exactly how the shet shift will take place over time uh which remains to be seen and this should also be watched closely and any ongoing insights that can be gleaned from brokers and property owners will be important again I mentioned we've talked to them and they were certainly very positive about what's going on today but in terms of what the future holds uh it still remains to be seen so with that I'm going to transition it over to considerations for the future and if Ken would like to come okay I'll keep going so I'll close this out here. So, in summary and based on our analysis, we believe the city should continue to embrace this asset class. The city's roughly 9 million square feet of industrial space represents a major economic foundation that positively impacts the city from a fiscal perspective. And protecting and enhancing this asset will be critical to maintaining a strong tax base. Lastly, we think the city should maintain its ongoing engagement with brokers and property owners to help the city stay ahead of market trends. This is especially important as industries evolve with the use of AI and space needs that may require modernization of other and reinvestment. So in the case of industrial, anytime there is a need

for perhaps a new type of labor pool, uh we've seen cities also um help in terms of access to grants, things like that. I think there's an opportunity to extend that invitation, that conversation with property owners to see how uh the city could help them. With that, I'll end it here and take any questions you may have. Okay, before I bring it to my colleagues, madam city clerk, do we have any request to speak on this item?

We do have one public commenter for this item and that is Andrew O' Conor. Mayor and city council, I've been talking about this COSMA consulting agreement from the very beginning when they did the retail and now they're doing the industrial. So, let's start at base one. Who asked for this? Did a did a resident come up say, "Hey, I want this data for retail and industrial." Did any did any of you on the council request this? or did Cosbot knock on the city manager's door and gave her this big presentation and she says, "Yeah, let's go for it." Well, folks, we just paid after this and the first one it comes up to $170,000 and what's the council going to do? Receive and file. So, of both of these analysis, mayor and city council, who picks up the ball from here? Who runs with these two analysis after 170,000? Is there a point person on the council? Is there a point person on the staff? You know, it's funny with this uh industrial one, Mr. Cosbot. Shame on you. Do you know, and I sent this to you an email, these guys said that Cox was still here with 400 employees of the report. Go back and look at it. It's there. Sir, Cox moved up.

Mr. Connor, direct your comments to the council.

Cox is not even here. Can you believe that? So, they put this report together, which I say can be done in two hours because all this information is available to any broker. So, they had some entrylevel person put this all together. listening to his report tonight. It was just bunch of hash of potatoes, but we're paying 170,000 for it. And what do we do with it? He says, "We have to modernize." What are you kidding me? These buildings were built in the 1990s. They don't need to be modernized. I noticed he didn't say Prologius, who has two big distribution centers. Didn't mention that in the report. did mention about the Panasonic headquarters being leveled and being made into a distribution center. And I'm sure as hell glad we don't have an Amazon distribution center because they have that mission VJO on Toronto Monica and it's nothing but aggravation. It's bad enough we got home delivery from Amazon. I don't know if you see in your neighborhood they park on the wrong side of the street. They run the lights. They're on their phone. They have so many DMV codes. I don't want an Amazon distribution center. There's no more space. The last buildings here on Pauling and European company come in and checked up on really nice. There's no more open space to say we have to modernize it. It just throws our whole presentation out. Besides, we have Gail Ari sitting in the audience. We pay

Thank you for your comments. Colleagues, do I have any questions for my colleagues? I do. Yeah, Andrew, this is a a question for you. Um, first of all, I'll say thank you. The fact is the information is well used, I think, in our city to lay out the future of where we're going. So, um, thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Ken. Um, on page 14, you guys talked about some of the risks. Um, and it one of the things I was wondering, how do we square up with cost square footage with the rest of the county? I didn't see that in the report. I mean, are we are we under the rest of the county? Are we equal or higher in terms of cost per square foot per square foot to rent

for? Yeah. Yeah. So, actually, I would say that you're just under Irvine spectrum, but above others in terms of cost, which I think to me just from a supply demand perspective that sort of levels out in terms of how much inventory you have with how much demand you have as well for the spaces. That was my question. Thank you. So, so this receiving file, thank you so much. Thank you both for coming.

Yeah, I would also like to just thank you all. This working with the city of Lake Forest has been a pleasure. Gail has been great to work with on this particular assignment and these were competitive RFP processes and we were honored to be selected in that competitive process. So I appreciate the council mayor and members of the council and working very closely with you all on both the retail study which was in the past and the industrial study currently. And just to think about the industrial asset class as Andrew pointed out you know these are important general fund tax revenue generators because it's very stable and I know that we focus a lot on retail. I just wanted to make the comment that retail is just one of those more elastic and cyclical type revenue streams. But the property tax base of your industrial ends up being a very stable source, which is important when we're looking for commercial revenue streams that have a positive net fiscal impact. The office market is challenged. The industrial market in your case at 9.6 million square feet, stable and pretty strong. So, it's something I think for Lake Forest to be, you know, uh, proud of, if you will, and embrace the diversity of asset classes, residential, retail, uh, and industrial. So that's a different perspective, but thank you so much.

Yeah. Well, you know, I think that we as a council want to say thank you because the fact is that you guys have helped give us the information to keep us to be a prosperous and well-run city. So, thank you.

Yeah, a quick question. I I noticed in the report that the vacancy rate was with us is like 42 4.2%. Which is under a lot of most of the city. So that diversification that we're talking about and understanding where our strengths are. And I'm just wondering in terms of the tenure of our commercial properties, do we have data on what's the average length of time that our commercial properties have been in Lake Forest to see, you know, what's the long stay for these these companies here?

Yeah. I mean, a lot of these assets are, you know, in the 25 year range, give or take. We do take a look sometimes. I was just at another city council meeting and we identified a lot of 40-year-old assets because then you got to start to really think about that rehabilitation or redevelopment. But the other insight we gained was the discussion with the brokers. We had a lot of conversations with the architects, the brokers, the owners, and they feel like it's a very stable asset that's in high demand. There's a large building. it may end up being redeveloped into smaller buildings which would be an example of a brand new asset class that I think could bring some long longevity and stability. So I think you're in pretty good shape in terms of how old the buildings are. I mean they're not in some obsolescence. You're not facing that today. And this information, this data, I know that our staff, they they take it, we boil it down into a value proposition for other businesses to make sure they understand what the value is of coming to Lake Forest to do business with and and keep that vacancy rate as low as possible and keep those commercial dollars flowing to us in terms of that that tax revenue. Is that accurate assessment?

Yeah, it is an accurate assessment. And the comment that we put into the considerations is also stay in touch with the market. I think you guys as a city do a very good job and your staff does a very good job in my opinion of being in touch with the market. There's been broker lunches. There's been outreach. There's been databases that you've retained that understand who are owners, who are property managers, who are some of the brokers. And that's a good way to stay in touch with the marketplace because it's a symbiotic relationship, right? If you need something from them or you have a question for them or they have a question for you, that should be in my opinion anyways an open dialogue. And I think the city has done a pretty good job of having at least an open door policy that way. So it's keeping track of what is either obsolete or whether what are the challenges or what are the leasing challenges from some of the owners. And you can get that information from some of the brokers. So it's a relationship business at the end of the day.

Yeah. Well, I think it's a multiaceted value we're talking about here in terms of the tax revenues of course are important, the job creation that's there, the amenities that we're able to um put into place because of our diversity and our commercial type properties here. So, u thanks again for, you know, putting all the data down, helping us to boil it down to create that value proposition to attract more businesses to come to Lake Forest. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you. Thanks again, gentlemen. Okay. So, that t takes us over to item number nine. Madame city clerk, please read the title to item number nine.

Uh, thank you, mayor. There seems to be a little bit of a glitch in the matrix. So, um, the title of item number nine, I'm sorry it doesn't show up on there. Is the consideration of the community potluck. Okay. Mr. Assistant City Manager, please introduce this item. Uh, mayor, members of the city council, this is an item that mayor Peno brought forth and got consensus on the April 7th meeting and I'm going to turn it back over to him for his presentation.

All right. Thank you, colleagues. What I want to talk about tonight is an event called OC around the table. Um, last year or so OC around the table is uh and it was it OC a table, excuse me. Captain, can you have him go outside?

So, I'm on the organizing committee for the OC around the table. And what it is, it's it's an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record uh for the largest community potluck. And the attempt is the bigger focus is to foster unity, connection and inclusivity by bringing together individuals from all backgrounds to share in a collective potluck meal. So right now uh in Amadabad, India, they hold a record with 3,264 participants back in 2016. Last year the Pacifica Institute who is here tonight with we have the executive director Mustafa Ulukaya. I hope I said that right. and Okanustad. Um, basically they're they're a nonprofit here in Lake Forest. Them along with the city of uh, Fountain Valley, Mayor Ted Buie, Supervisor Janet W's office and the Fountain Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Orange County Interfaith Network and the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Network put this event together this last September. So, I attended that event and when I heard OC around the table, I thought it was a conversation to be honest till I saw these tables and food. Um, but then they successfully brought together 2,166 people at Mile Square Park, breaking the US record for the largest community pot. And so, how it works is there are table hosts, which individual families and organizations who host tables by bringing food and inviting guests. And let me just make this clear. This is a free event for anybody to go to. Anybody's everybody's invited. So, um, but there are no cont no cash contributions by the guest, but they do ask for event sponsors. Local businesses and community partners provide financial or inind expense uh, support to help make the event. So, if they could either

sponsor tables or they can provide tables or anything else that's needed. Um, table sponsors. Anybody can be a table sponsor. Uh, your support helps cover event expenses. So, last year it cost uh Pacifica Institute about $30,000. And if you think of a nonprofit, that's, you know, $30,000 is a hit to their their annual uh budget. So, um, you can you can consider sponsoring tables for $50 per table and each table holds six people. Uh, and guests are welcome. You can bring food. You don't have to take somebody else's food because I did get an email from a resident saying that uh she's going to pass because she's afraid of, you know, getting some food. Well, or getting food poisoning or if there's an allergic they have a a reaction to different food. Well, if you cook and you get sick, then it's on you. Uh so this year, the event will be held on the September 27th from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Miles Square Park. It will be on the northeast or southeast corner of Uklid at Warner at shelter number one. Supervisor Janet Wyn has made available a large portion of the mile square park to host the event. There's plenty of parking at the park and at the UCI Health uh found uh Fountain Valley Foundation and transportation will be made available from this place to to the event. So far I have commitments from the Lake Forest Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Forest uh Kuwani Club and the the uh this event also has the city of Fountain Valley that's involved, the Huntington Beach, which is res uh represented by the greater Hunting Huntington Beach inner ca in interfaith f uh council and former mayor David GOP. the Fullerton uh city council by Mayor

Fred Young. Uh Garden Grove, Mayor Stephanie Cloffenstein, uh Irvine was representative by Mayor Larry Aren's office. Uh Sil Beach, Mayor Linda Landau, Stanton by Mayor Dave Shaveier, and Santa Ana through the Chamber of Commerce and some of their leadership. And Westminster through the Westminster Chamber of Commerce. And as of right now, Saddleback Church is interested in this. Uh there are higher off uh elected officials that represent Lake Forest that are interested in helping spread the word. And there are some South Orange County Chambers of Commerce that have shown interest. And I'm asking the city of Lake Forest to support this event. Now, how does the support look is I want to be able to invite other South County cities because last year it was mostly North County, but I want to send emails from the mayor of Lake Forest to the city saying, "Hey, there's this event. You know, it is going to be a breaking Guinness book a world record. However, let's let's start uh mixing with other cities or, you know, uh hanging out with other cities." Um, and I want to use our city logo. Uh, on the event website when we break this record, there's going to be a proclamation that's going to be done with our logos. And there's there's I'll pass it to you guys, but there's four different lines. One is for the cities that are involved, the the the interfaith networks, the service groups, and other businesses are going to be on this proclamation. So, anybody that attends or that helps sponsor this event is going to get a certificate of participation from the Guinness Book of World Records and I myself will be sponsoring 10 tables. Sorry, an um but uh it's mostly friends and families, my friends here in the

city. Um this is more save the date because we're still in the planning stages of this. Uh there is a website, there's an RSVP, but there's at some point there's going to be a cut off because of logistic reasons. We have to cut off and say, "Okay, there's no more because we don't have enough tables or chairs or whatever." There they have line live entertainment. And if you go to OC around the table on the internet, ocaround the table or or you'll see a video of last year's event. Um, and you may see me dancing in that video, so just go for the fun. Um, and so Mustafa is here to ask answer questions if I can't, but like I said, I'm on the organizing committee this year and I think this is a good event just so we could break bread with people from all walks of life and make, you know, uh, one of the things I told them, it's not about blue or red when it comes to politics. it comes it's all about Orange County. So colleagues if we have questions okay so um I do want uh actually if my colleagues are willing I would like the city to sponsor 10 tables which is 500 B bucks and we invite city staff and family members to the event. Like I said there's six to the table. I just went to the um the sheriff's medal of valor lunchon. The city bought a table and city staff showed up to watch the event. So my my ask is can we can I use the city logo? Can I use uh my title to talk to other cities and uh if the city is willing to sponsor 10 tables for city staff?

Mayor, I do have a question. So, um, does the sponsorship include us providing the food for our 10 tables? Well, yeah. So, the it's it's a potluck, so you bring your own food and but there's tables assigned and then there's, you know, the city of Lake Forest logo will be on those tables. So, the sponsorships are availing the food for their table. No, the sponsorship is help paying for that table so we could sit at. So, we we as guests bring the food. Yeah. Okay. So, so it's not like there'll be restaurants out there. People will be bringing a pack. Yeah. It's it's a potluck. So, a potluck means you bring your food. That was my question.

Um and you said the the purpose for the city sponsorship was to have staff attend. Well, city so city staff can can they can attend, their families can attend. You know, there's different so we can just show our footprint as the city of Lake Forest. Okay. That that's a volunteer thing though for them to go to that event. Absolutely. We're No, nobody's going to be, hey, you drew the short straw short straw tea, you got to go kind of thing. But if they want to show, they can. Okay. Um I I would maybe think in a different term and then I was I would challenge each of our colleagues to put the money up instead of the city. So if we were to each put up, I'm not saying everyone wants to buy because that's You said $50 a table. $50 a table.

Was $500 you've already committed to. But maybe each one of us would be willing to buy maybe not 10 tables but maybe something else in lie of the city money. Let's each one of us put in some money and buy some tables. That's fine. But it for for the city to to be on the to to get one of the certificates of participation. They they would they would have to to uh to to sponsor a table. The city would have to sponsor a table to get a certificate of participation. But I'm saying, oh, so if I put the money up, the city can't get that because only I get it.

Yes. So, it's 500 bucks. I mean, uh, if I if I get a no, then I get a no. That's fine. Uh, but, uh, that's that's my that's my motion. Guys, anything? No question. I'll second your motion. Okay. I like, you know, Council Member Tedimer's idea and I think that that's something that if we, you know, are all in favor of we could all partner up and say, "Okay, if there's 10 tables, there's five of us, then that's what, two tables a piece at 50 bucks, it's $100 a piece if I'm doing the math, right?" Yeah. But I think the mayor is trying to get a city proclamation or a city's logo on the proclamation as compared to council member

Yeah. such and such. And so, so if they if the city sponsored one table, does that satisfy the satisfies it? So for 50 bucks, the city gets their logo and we're good. You mean if I were to if I were to offer to give $50 and say I'm doing on behalf of the city, they would recognize me and not the city. Well, I I don't think we're going to miss I mean, we're not going to we're not going to, you know, get that low. I mean, if if we as council members all pitch in, I'm pretty sure we can just say, "Hey, this is for the city." So either way, I'd like to I personally would like to do that. Just have all of us contribute some money and we can collectively we can take the money off, but I still have Can I use the logo and Yep. So

yeah, I I I I support the the the concept here and I actually support even the $500 because it's not going to break us. But um I think that we might have problems because um the city can't be the conduit. And I'm going to ask our legal can if we all pitched in, can we pitch money into the city so that the city can give the check to Yeah, Mr. Mayor, council, the city is always happy to receive free money. Um but but it's a pass through, so that's what I'm concerned about. There's it's a it's a good concern. There's there's no issue with that at all. Okay. Then um then that that I that would be a friendly substitute motion that we we we buy the tickets. Well, then we we just have to figure out how many tables we're going to buy

or how many tables we're going to sponsor. Okay. Do we need to do that tonight? Um no, no, we got time. We have time, but Okay. But it's we're going to have to bring it back and then discuss it again. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm supportive and um I think it's it's a great idea because the fact is I think that too often um the community doesn't come together like this and break bread and I think that there's there's um legitimacy in breaking bread and being friends with other people. So I think that this is a great opportunity for city of Lake Forest to get recognized and um they did how many? They did 2,66 2,166. Okay. So they fell a little short. Uh, and and we we had to go to 3,500. What was the number?

Well, we we want to get a lot more than that. I'm just saying what was the bare minimum? The the number that the Guinness book right now is 3,264. 200. Wow. Okay. And like I said, there's going to be entertainment. There's going to be a whole lot of things there. So, um, and right now, the city of Lake Forest isn't going to book a world record for one thing. at Srano Intermediate made the large the biggest ice cream float or something was there. Yeah. So Mark got to eat for free but nobody else did.

So um but that's really just Serrano Intermediate. Like when I was researching this even the city of Laguna Niguel is in the Guinness Book of World Records but they have a resident that has the largest Lego collection. Well it's you know he just happens to live in the city of Laguna Niguel. So the city itself, you know, hopefully after this that they'll they'll they'll be part of this. So anyway, mayor, yes, if I could,

um, let me throw this out then. What if each one of us if you want to do something more, you can, but what if each one of us pledged to give $200 a piece? That's $1,000 to it. If you want to do something else, you can do above and beyond. I'm just saying, but if we all agree just to land that particular piece. Well, heck yeah. I'd go for that because that's 300 less and I can come in the house tonight. Angela let me in finally. So yeah, a thousand bucks if we are my colleagues okay with 200 bucks each to to sponsor 20 tables. That's 20 tables, right? Right. Yeah. So 120 people.

There you go. And like I said, anybody can go. It's a free event, but you know, we want to help uh Pacifica Institute offset their costs. And so I'm pretty sure that once the chamber the chamber of commerce gets this when we when we finally have this together, they're going to find uh plenty of of sponsors for this event. And so, and you know, since Supervisor Janet Wyn is doing a whole bunch, I'm pretty sure there's another supervisor that might want to kick we we haven't been approached on yet, but I'm I'm sure that we'll bring it up. Um I I

I get I guess the paperwork to take it to the office, but um I I I think that's good. I think that um I think just to be legitimate, I I'm I'm move the motion or I'd like to put the motion out that the city puts $500 out and we buy individual tables. The effect is the city can afford $500 and that way it's a legitimate city logo on the Guinness Books record and it will be on there.

Yeah. Just just to clarify my position, it's not that we whether we can afford it or not. There's also precedent being set when we do these kind of things and I'm just sensitive to that. That's all. It's not about the money. Um, and that's why I'm saying we can take some of our money and put it up and sidestep that whole issue and actually double the amount of money that would be coming in for the event. Yep. We each put in 200, that's 1,000 bucks, which is 500 more than I heard earlier. That's good. I I mean, it's it's really not about the money. It's about us, the city, the council saying, "Yes, we're in. We we have buyin." And from what I'm getting is buying is motion. I I'll second that motion.

So well so basically the motion is now is uh let OC around the table use our logo. Let me um use my my email, the mayor's email to contact other electeds to say, "Hey, will you join us?" Mayor, I I you might also want to make a mayor or council member challenge. Okay. To say that each of the other council members also do what we're doing and put in 200 bucks each. That's what I was going to do. Oh, don't worry. 35% of our monthly pay. Wow, you're asking a lot. Yeah. Work some overtime. No. No. Uh, no. So, that's my motion.

If I can just chime in just to make it clear procedurally what's happening here. there's a motion which was articulated and then a mayor's challenge and that challenge wouldn't become part of the motion because it's an individual challenge. Um there's no need to have a official action by the city that each person has to spend a certain amount of money. So again the motion is as articulated the challenge is something completely separate and and individual.

Yeah. And so, and this is way in September, but I wanted to get this started so I can just start sending feelers out to the different um the the different city councils from uh from Lake Forest down to San Clemente. And just speaking to some of the council members, they're all in. They just waiting for us to give them more. Like I said, we're we're we're we're going to have a meeting in about two more weeks for another this is this will be our third um and our first initial meeting that we had just to to say, "Hey, we're going to do this." How many people showed up, Okan? How many people showed up that that first meeting? The very first meeting?

I think 80. 80. Yeah, there was 80 people there. So, from everywhere, I mean, there was lions, there was for January 15th. Yes. 85 people. 85.

So there were um uh the Lions Club, the Kuanis. I mean every every every walk of life was there. I mean anything that goes on in the city, they were there. So this is going to have some high visibility, high interest. And I would really I I think we're going to smash this record and maybe a a second record. Uh because I started looking through the Guinness Book of World Records and I saw red light, green light is 1500 people did it. If we have over 3,000, I'm red light, green lighting us into a second world record. So So my my motion is let me use the the uh the city

the city logo and my my e my official email as the mayor. Yeah. And the the whole city is particip the whole city city council is participating in buying tables. Yes. But that's not part of the motion. That's a part of All right. All right. You know, we have we have you on camera. Second that. That uh but uh yeah. So that made it $300. Well, I I'm probably going to buy more tables, but that's off to the side. So uh thank you, colleagues, and let's vote. And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you colleagues again. And so we'll move on to item number 10. Uh madame city clerk, please read the title of item number 10. The title of item number 10 is the capital improvement plan update. All right. Mr. Assistant city manager, please introduce this item. Well, turn on my mic. Mayor, council members, uh, our assistant director of public works will come up and give our quarterly presentation on our capital improvement projects. Uh, Nas is up there to give her presentation. Yep. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm back here um this evening to present an update on the city's capital improvement program or CIP for the first quarter of 2026. Our current program includes 60 projects with a total budget of $55 million. Uh you may notice these numbers are more than what uh we presented in the fourth quarterly uh update for 2025 as this council approved two additional CIP projects during the media review. So let's start off with what city staff uh completed since the last quarterly update. Four projects have been recently uh completed. Uh vintage park renovations was completed renovation was completed in February. Pickle ball um court restriping was uh completed earlier in 2025 and um staff presented the last community outreach result to council in February. Annual citywide street sidewalk repairs was completed in March and uh we uh presented this uh phase 2 study for protected permissive left turn project in the last uh council meeting. Other projects completed earlier were presented in uh to you in more details in my previous updates. U they're listed here and on this page. Um and the last two projects uh are renovation of aging uh heroes park uh baseball fields and replacement of existing sport field lighting and uh with LED lighting and the associated electrical upgrades at this park. This April uh Heroes Park was u featured in our mayor's uh minute and I'd like to share that with you. Here.

I'm here at Heroes Park, one of the most loved community spaces. And today, it's all about these fields and the teams who bring them to life. So, I want you to be honest. What do you think about the fields? I think it's great. I love how you're able to play even better than before. It makes it way cleaner and safer. Go. Explode on. Explode. Go. Attack, Jimmy. Attack. Bare hand fire. Yep. Attack, Jimmy. So, what's your favorite part about this field? Um, I would definitely say the new installed LED lights. They're super cool when it's night time and you're playing and they just I just like them.

Feels like the major leagues, right? Awesome. Uh, I like the uh scoreboard cuz they just didn't work last season. Uh, well, they're working now and you guys are lighting the scoreboard up, right? Awesome. Especially you, right? Yep. All right, coach. You've seen the field before and after. What's changed the most? I

I got to tell you, the the time and energy that the city's put into these fields. I mean, we have a brand new uh dirt infield. The turf is brand new on all four fields here. Uh they got brand new fences out on one and four. The the the team that just won the Little League World Series two years ago, their field manager was out over the weekend, and he said these are the nicest fields he's seen, and he's played on all of them. So, it just goes a long way to show how far uh the league has come. from the city has come and the love that they pour into these fields has made all the difference in the world to these kids and and all these players. So, thank you.

Oh, thank you. Heroes Park recently underwent a full renovation including regraded fields, improved irrigation, new fencing, and energy efficient LED lighting that makes a big difference for both play and sustainability. And it's not just us who think it turned out great. This project is actually being nominated for a countywide engineering award highlighting how investments like this make a big difference for our players, families, and community. All right, I have one final question. Who's going to win the championship this season?

Heroes Park is more than just a park. It's where our community comes together and where young athletes grow and where memories are made. Win or lose, every heavy hitter deserves a sweet finish. Swing by a little something sweet. located at 20770 Lake Forest Drive, Sweet Seat, for a postgame treat. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you at the next Mayor's Minute. All right, coach. In 2017, the Astros got this ring by doing some certain things. I'm not saying that you should cheat, but what do you think? Well, here at Lake Forest Little League, we focus on fundamentals, development, and having fun,

I guess. So, Well, I'm glad to share that Heroes Park Improvement Projects were um recognized by um American Society of Civil Engineers with an award uh with an an an outstanding parks and recreation project award. um the the fields had not had not gone um undergone major renovations in more than 30 years and are heavily used for youth sports and tournaments. So together these projects represent a significant long-term investment in improving recreational facilities for our park users. Um, since June 2025, uh, we completed 17 projects equating to more than $10.5 million worth of worth of investment in our community from our current CIP program. Um, now let's move on to what is in construction. We currently have 12 project in projects in construction throughout our city. Construction of the El El Toro road corridor improvements project began on Monday uh this past uh Monday. These improvements are expected to reduce congestion, improve traffic flow and enhance overall safety. City has placed uh message boards throughout the project area to notify the public of the upcoming construction activities. All three lift them intersection projects are substantially complete. We are waiting for last traffic equipment delivery to finalize this project and close out these. And um Bake Tribuko intersection widening project is well underway. A widening of the road along Bake Parkway is complete and median improvements are currently being implemented. We

anticipate project completion in summer 2026. Citywide restroom renovations is substantially complete. We are working on uh punchless items to finalize this project and the fifth phase of audible pedestrian signal is uh in submittal and recruitment phase. Uh we anticipate deliver equipment delivery uh later in May for installation for this project. Lake Forest Sports Park HVAC replacement project is also in procurement and submittal phase and foothill ranch box crossink installation is ongoing. Um now let's move on to what's in um preparation for award or construction advertisement phase. We have uh four projects um getting ready for being awarded. Um you will see Etnis skate park energy efficient uh LED lighting project coming to council for award um in next month. And uh we staff is also working on annual citywide park concrete trail repairs, large pole and metal fence repairs and lake forest park windscreen soccer netting and background screening repairs. We um also have another four projects gearing up for construction advertisement within the next three to six months. Uh nature and lake forest park, peachoot park, slurry zone D and civic center slurry. Now uh let's move on to what's in design. We currently have eight projects in design. Three developer fund uh fee funded intersection improvements project designs are in progress. Um on the street improvement side we are working on design for arterial wall enhancement in southwest lake forest and bake parkway resurfacing. We are also working on Alyssa Creek

drainage repairs, nature park trail connection and foothill ranch park slope landscape improvements. We have um another 17 projects in our CIP program. Some of these projects will be funded in the next fiscal year and so we will be waiting uh for approval of funding prior to starting them. However, there are currently three projects in the pre-esign phase that staff is working on and I would like to up provide update on those. Um, we are currently evaluating design proposals for Kavanaaugh park improvements. staff uh will be interviewing consultants next week and Lake Forest Sports Park building renovations and its skate park building improvements are in a request for proposal phase and proposals are due due later this week actually. In summary, we completed 17 projects. 20 projects are in construction, eight projects are in pre-construction, eight projects in design, and three projects are actively in pre-esign phase. This concludes my report. Thank you for your time, and I'm available to answer any questions.

Thank you for that presentation, NAS. Um, before I go to my colleagues, madame city clerk, are there any requests to speak on this item? There are none, mayor. Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Nas, for updating us on this. And I just want to kind of take a page out of one of my favorite phrases, which is the biggest room is the room for improvement. And it's really a credit to you and Doug Erdman, our director of public works, and the team here and the staff doing an incredible job. And just stepping back in time for a second, taking a page out of Mark Hermanson's book here with us tonight, is that there's been accusations from people in our community about some of these things where we have to do them in close session because of some legal reasons and then we bring them forward. And just to kind of show that, you know, people jump to conclusions all the time. And I just want you to know that we have incredible people here in Lake Forest that are really interested in making sure this community is as best as it can be in all sorts of infrastructure and amenities. And this is just another tribute to, you know, the nice work that uh our folks are are doing here in the city. So, thank you for all that nice work. I know a lot of people don't understand this. sometimes they don't see the short-term pain for the long-term gain that we're going to experience from this, but it really is something that is really valuable to us here in the city and we really appreciate it. Thank you.

You're welcome. So, this is receiving file. Thank you so much for your your report. That leads us to the assistant city manager report. Mr. Assistant City Manager, do you have anything to report? Mayor, council members. Uh, nothing further to report. Okay. Takes us to council comments. Council member Tedmer. Nothing tonight. Thank you. Council member Voites.

Um, I attended and welcome. I didn't attend the ribbon cutting, but we have a new tuxedo shop in Foothill Ranch and it's called Tuxedo Moments. Um, I was pre-ested, but I had to go by there because the fact is that we lost our tuxedo shop in Lake Forest. And now we have another place to make us look good and feel good. So, congratulations to them for choosing a great city. I hope you all put on your thing. If you need you're going to a wedding, having a wedding, graduation, tuxedo moments. Um then I was at the sports park for the annual pet expo and we had thousands of people, hundreds of pets and animals of all types and it was great weather. So it was a beautiful day for the pet expo in Lake Forest unlike last year where it poured rain on us all. Thank you. Nothing further council member.

Thank you mayor. Nothing further. Thank you and mayor prom.

Thank you. Uh, I just want to pick up a couple of comments about the ebike discussion that we had here tonight. We didn't describe in detail the ordinances that we have in the city and ones that we've added in an attempt. So, when people say that we're not doing anything, that's totally false. And as you heard from Captain Pulse tonight giving us an update. And I think the focus really has to come down to the parents and that responsibility and accounting for what their kids are doing and having enough ownership in this to make sure that they're doing the safe thing. And we talked about the the brazen aspect of this. And so, you know, we are looking at different alternatives to continue to figure out this very complicated problem on how to deal with it. We all understand these stories that are heartbreaking. We've heard them. we've seen them ourselves and just want you to know that this is on our radar and we are working toward uh solutions that make sense for our city. Uh, I also attended the the pet expo as um, council member Voitz alluded to. Beautiful day out there. And I just have three quick things that that I learned at the the pet expo. And you know, the first one I was walking my jet, my dog Jet around there, taking a look at different things. And, you know, one of the vets, I was just talking to them about some of the equipment they use for diagnosis. And uh we tried to get my dog to kind of comply with some things, but we found out that he still cannot conduct an MRI, but cats can. And then secondly, uh there was a booth that has some cute little pigs and they were actually teaching them how to do karate and so they were calling people over to say, "Hey, everybody come over here and look at the pork chop." And then the last thing was that we didn't have any horses or alcohol out there, but I did understand that a horse's favorite type of wine is Chardonnay. Thank you, Mayor. Well, thank you, Mayor Prom. Um, so I attended the chambers four chamber mixer in U Dana Point. Uh I went to the medal

medal of valor lunchon last week where we had a deputy deputy zeers uh got a the medal of life saving for saving a young man's life that had been stabbed. And I did go to tuxedo moments uh there in Foothill Ranch. And on Sunday night, I attended an Eagle Court for um for four boy scouts that were getting their Eagle Scouts. And u Thank you again, colleagues, for um agreeing to do the OC around the table. All right. And other than that, we're adjourned.