City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the City Council regular meeting this Monday evening, August 17th. Please join me in rising for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. CITY COURT PLEASE CALL THE CITY COURT PLEASE CALL THE ROLL.

ROLL. CERTAINLY MAYOR LORRAINE, CERTAINLY MAYOR LORRAINE, CONSULT MEMBER NEWSOM. CONSULT MEMBER NEWSOM. HERE. HERE. HERE. DEPUTY MAYOR FERNANDEZ. DEPUTY MAYOR FERNANDEZ. HERE. HERE. MAYOR LORRAINE.

We're excited to be here in person with options for those who choose not to be in person to still participate virtually. Thank you for your cooperation and for helping us maintain an efficient and accessible meeting environment. There are several ways to participate. For those attending in person, you may complete a yellow request to speak slip and hand it to the city clerk. If you're participating remotely, Use the raise your hand feature in Zoom and you will be called on at the appropriate time. If you're calling in via phone, please press star nine to raise your hand. And when you're called upon, please press star six to unmute. These options for public comment will remain available until I close public comment periods for each specific item. For members of the public who may be watching us on YouTube, If you wish to provide live public comment, please note that we don't currently have this feature available through YouTube. Instead, you should join the meeting through our Zoom webinar using the access information listed in our agenda, which is available on our website at cityofsanmateo.org. We'll begin with a ceremonial item. Item number one is a informational item from Job Train. We have some folks from Job Train in council chambers with us today. I'd like to invite Peter Hartzell, Chief Operating Officer, and Eric Collimer, Regional Director, to deliver a presentation to tell us and hear in San Mateo a bit more about Job Train.

Thank you very much. Mayor Lorraine and Deputy Mayor Fernandez, City Council members Nash and Sphere Gruditsky and Newsome.

And thank you, Manager.

Thank you for having us here this evening.

Job Train, many of you may already be familiar, but we've been in the San Mateo County for over 60 years, started by the gentleman here on the screen, Reverend Leon Sullivan, who founded this OWIC back, OCIW back in the 1960s. He was a dear friend of Martin Luther King, and together they focused on the idea of educating particularly black community members for job readiness in the communities across the country. And many of those organizations that he founded are still in existence, just like Job Train here in San Mateo County. The story of getting towards economic mobility at JobTrain is built on these four steps that you see above here. And this is a comprehensive approach to the challenge of an individual trying to make their way from possibly a lack of stabilization in their life all the way up to mobility and a family sustainable wage. And at Job Training, it begins with the stabilization and support methods you see on the right there of economic advancement centers. And as we mentioned, Eric is here, and he runs one of our economic advancement centers in South San Francisco. as well as food and housing and other services that are required just to help someone reach a level of stabilization that they can get to the next step, which is skills upgrades, which in turn then prepare them for the workforce or possibly step three, which is a career training. And at Job Train, we have five of these different career training. These are 11, 12 week programs that end up with a certificate and help getting a job in what is a likely career path that will be helpful to that individual. And then finally, and this is a more recent addition, is the idea of really getting that job in the high 20s or low 30s per hour is not a family sustainable wage in the Bay Area. And it's really helping them get all the way up to career advancement and ultimately economic independence.

Next slide, please.

At Job Train, we've served last year 5,400 clients, 10,000 services provided. And that really is falling into these two buckets at the bottom there. Each story is individual, as you can see with this gentleman in the upper right, Jonathan. Each story is its own story. And people are joining that pathway wherever is right for them at that moment. But on the left are the job training. These are the CTE, those 11-12 week programs. And 77% of those who graduate then are getting placed in a job that is aligned with that career path they've been trained in. Medical assistant, IT, carpentry, culinary arts, let's see, building, maintenance, HVAC, all of which are the beginning of a potential good career path. On the right then is what's happening at Eric Center in South San Francisco and others around the San Mateo County, which is taking anyone who walks through the door and giving them some support, listening to their story, helping them begin to take the steps necessary that they choose to take And often that's leading towards getting a job and so you can see 885 resumes created, people are job ready and 580 job placements with an average range of over $22 an hour. Next slide please. Here's the theory of change at Job Train. In San Mateo County and Santa Clara County, we are working with our clients on this two bridge model you see above us. And an individual may join those bridges wherever they are at that moment in their life. But Job Train began, and this is Leon Sullivan's influence in that middle, that stability island is what we call it. Someone stable enough to take a CTE training program and then work towards their goals of economic independence. But about less than 10 years ago, we realized that we really needed to go back and work with people in more of a intentional pre-stability stage and help them get the stability of whatever it may be, food, or ESL courses or whatever it may be to help them get to the point where they can then get towards that stability island. And it's on the left that led us 10 years ago to start our first of these economic advancement centers, one in East Palo Alto. And since then, we've added them in North Fair Oaks, in South San Francisco, in Half Moon Bay, and in San Jose. So that has been tremendous. And those are the data we saw there a moment ago. And you have... our impact report on your desk here, which you can look at at your leisure. Most recently, in the last three years, then we've added this third element of our theory of change, which is helping get to the economic independence. The Job Train is going to stick with these clients maybe years. as they try to go from an initial job in a promising career to several advancements and get from that $28, $30, $32 an hour up to $40, $45 an hour, where you're finally at a point where you've got a family sustainable wage in our area. TO DO THAT, WE REALIZE IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT THE JOB OR EVEN THE CAREER. IT HAS ALL THESE OTHER ELEMENTS, HOUSEHOLD STABILITY, WELL-BEING, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, EDUCATION, MAYBE COLLEGE CAREER PATHS. SO IT'S THAT PACKAGE THAT REPRESENTS WHAT JOB TRAIN IS TRYING TO PUT IN PLACE, BUILDING ON ITS SUCCESS FOR 60 YEARS FOR THE COMMUNITY ACROSS SAN MATEO COUNTY. NEXT SLIDE. And here's kind of the geographic story. We are headquarters in East Menlo Park in Belhaven. We have career centers you can see there I've mentioned. We also have a property management program over in Oakland. And we're here tonight just to say, first of all, thank you for being recognized but also to offer that if we could be useful to the city of San Mateo and set up a meeting at some point with your staff and just talk about your plans for helping your citizens, your residents move up the economic ladder, we'd be more than happy to do that. At the county level, you know this is now a priority with the sustainability initiative that now has turned into what a statement anyway at the county level. And so we're happy to play that role if we can be useful. I'd like to just conclude by mentioning that there are two people in the audience here who've asked to speak on behalf of Job Train. And so first I'd like to introduce Rick Bonilla, please, to speak for a minute or two, and then we'll go to Angela Taylor.

Thank you, Peter. You all know me. I'm a retired union carpenter. This is 50 years since I joined the Carpenters Union this year, the last month. The training is the difference. The opportunities that I got from main training, given the confidence, knowing there's a plan, that you can talk to somebody, and there's skill. There are ways to do it. I ended up, from the training these people provide, I didn't have that, I had other training, but from the training they're providing, which gives people the needed start, doing all the things I've done in my life. And you know, this is quite a list. I'm here tonight. I'm not going to blow my own horn about everything, but I'm saying these people are doing stuff that's really worthwhile. They deserve all the recognition we can possibly give them because they're taking people that are otherwise lacking for opportunities and don't know which way to turn and give them a foothold on a life that will be able to sustain them and their family going into this future that we're living in now, which is expensive and detailed, complicated. So thank you all very much. Appreciate it. THANK YOU FOR HAVING THEM HERE TONIGHT.

THANK YOU.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR LORRAINE GOOD EVENING, MAYOR LORRAINE GOOD EVENING, MAYOR LORRAINE AND MEMBERS OF THE SAN MATEO AND MEMBERS OF THE SAN MATEO AND MEMBERS OF THE SAN MATEO CITY COUNCIL. CITY COUNCIL. CITY COUNCIL. I'M ANGELA TAYLOR, DIRECTOR OF I'M ANGELA TAYLOR, DIRECTOR OF I'M ANGELA TAYLOR, DIRECTOR OF SAN MATEO ADULT AND CAREER SAN MATEO ADULT AND CAREER SAN MATEO ADULT AND CAREER EDUCATION. EDUCATION. EDUCATION. I'M GOING TO READ FROM MY NOTES I'M GOING TO READ FROM MY NOTES I'M GOING TO READ FROM MY NOTES TODAY, THIS EVENING. TODAY, THIS EVENING. TODAY We are advancing together. As you know, Job Train is a true leader and catalyst in workforce development. San Mateo Adult and Career Education, or SMACE, is the largest and oldest adult school in San Mateo County and Northern California, serving approximately 4,000 adult learners each year. We enable adults to gain career credentials, connect to college or careers, earn a high school diploma or equivalency, and learn English. My vision for SMACE is to continue growing as a premier regional workforce driver, preparing skilled, high-quality workforce while connecting local employers with the talent they need. Partnerships like the one we have with Job Train are essential to advancing that vision and strengthening our regional workforce. Conversations with Larry Moody led to our very first large career fair in 2024. Terry Crenshaw, who is here in the audience, was one who was leading workforce development partnerships at Job Train and is now our consultant, took the lead role in coordinating this event. Together, SMACE and Job Train held two successful career fairs on our campus, attracting several hundred attendees and connecting students and community members directly with dozens of employers, workforce organizations, and training providers. Our partnership continues to grow with Job Train as we explore a stronger referral pipeline between SMACE and Job Train, including opportunities for Job Train to hold regular on-campus office hours and connect directly with our students. These are not simply connections. They have produced tangible outcomes for our students and community members, including gaining employment and earning industry-recognized credentials. For example, through our partnership with NovaWorks, four SME students also received full tuition support for their career training. This is another example of the power of referrals. JobTrain also connected us with the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, further expanding opportunities for our career education students who are business owners or aspire to be. We deeply value Job Train as a strategic partner. Together, we are building a coordinator continuum of services for those most in need and contributing to the economic vitality of San Mateo County. Thank you very much for having me. And I do have a catalog I can leave if you'd like to review it. Thank you.

Thank you, Rick and Angela. That concludes our comments.

And thank you, Mr. Husserl and Job Train, Mr. Colomer, for being here today and for sharing information with our city. We are grateful for the partnerships you display within other entities within our city and, of course, our broader county. And we look forward to more communication in the future together towards shared goals of ensuring that everyone in our city and area has the opportunity to to work for him or herself and participate in our local economy. If any other council members would like to say something, they're certainly welcome to do so. Deputy Mayor Fernandez.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to thank you for that great presentation, and I'm very proud to have the adult school in my district of District 2 in North Central. I wanted to request, there was a request from our representative here to meet with city staff, so I'm hoping that we can follow through on that and learn about how other cities might collaborate and where there might be space for us to do some planning on that.

Excellent. In that case, I will conclude item one and thank Job Train for being here again. We will now enter the consent calendar portion of our agenda tonight. We're moving beyond the ceremonial portion of the meeting, which includes the business items being considered by the council. For that reason, I would like to remind all in the room and online that we will be enforcing rules of decorum. As such, we do not allow for cheering, jeering, or booing during the business portion of the meeting, as this tends to put a chill on public comment. Our goal is to ensure that all perspectives are heard. Our motto is give respect, get respect, and we appreciate your cooperation with this. City Clerk, can you please read the consent calendar tonight?

Certainly, Mayor LaRain. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered by the council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion without discussion. If discussion is desired, that item may be removed and considered separately. Item number two, city council meeting minutes approval. Item number three, polymer injection system procurement adoption. ITEM NUMBER 4, CORPORATION YARD ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS AGREEMENT. ITEM NUMBER 5, OFFICE OF TRAFFIC SAFETY GRANT SPENDING PLAN AND APPROPRIATION. ITEM NUMBER 6, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL CANNABIS TAX FUND GRANT PROGRAM AWARD BUDGET APPROPRIATION. ITEM NUMBER 7, MARINA BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY RESTORATION PROJECT DESIGN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AMENDMENT. ITEM NUMBER 8, PURCHASE OF DIESEL FUEL FOR THE WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT AGREEMENT. ITEM NUMBER 9, MARINA BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY RESTORATION PROJECT CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES AMENDMENT. ITEM NUMBER 10, PERMITTING SUPPORT FOR CITYWIDE CREEKS MAINTENANCE PROGRAM AMENDMENT. ITEM NUMBER 11, CONTRACTS WITH CONTINGENCY COMPONENT UPDATE. ITEM NUMBER 12, WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT MOTOR CONTROL CENTERS REPLACEMENT PROJECT AMENDMENT. ITEM NUMBER 13, SECOND AND DELAWARE STORM TRAIN IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS AGREEMENT. ITEM NUMBER 14, SANITARY SEWER MASTER PLAN UPDATE APPROPRIATION AND AGREEMENT. ITEM NUMBER 15, CLEAN WATER PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SERVICES AMENDMENT. ITEM NUMBER 16, BARRISFORD RECREATION CENTER ROOF IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT AGREEMENT. ITEM NUMBER 17, DIGESTER ONE CLEANING PROJECT BID REJECTION. MAIN STREET GARAGE REMEDIATION CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT. ITEM NUMBER 19, CIVILIAN INVESTIGATOR CLASSIFICATION SERIES JOB SPECIFICATION AND SALARY SCHEDULE AND REVISIONS TO THE GOLF SERVICES MANAGER AND PARKS AND LANDSCAPE MANAGER JOB SPECIFICATIONS APPROVAL. AND FINALLY ITEM NUMBER 20, LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES ANNUAL CONFERENCE VOTING DELEGATE DESIGNATION.

Thank you City Clerk. Are there any members of the Council who would like to pull an item from the Consent Council?

I don't want to pull an item, but I do want to make a comment at the end.

OK. That sounds fine. Thank you for the heads up. Anyone else? I am seeing none. If any members of the public wish to comment on any consent calendar item that was just read by the city clerk, now is the time to do so. This would be for consent calendar items only. And I believe the city clerk may have something he may wish to remark upon that.

CERTAINLY MAYOR LORRAINE, JUST A BRIEF NOTE BEFORE WE WELCOME PUBLIC COMMENT, JUST AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE ROOM AND FOR INDIVIDUALS IN OUR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS YOUR FIRST WARNING. WE WELCOME SPEAKERS PROVIDING PUBLIC COMMENT BUT PLEASE BE ADVISED THIS IS A LIMITED PUBLIC FORUM. AS SUCH, SPEAKERS MUST STAY ON TOPIC IF SPEAKING TO A PARTICULAR AGENDA ITEM AND IF SPEAKING DURING GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT, THEY MUST ADDRESS MATTERS WITHIN THE SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OF THE CITY. If speakers fail to follow these rules, they will be warned. And if they continue to disregard our rules, their opportunity to speak will be ended. That being said, for the consent calendar items, if you wish to speak on any items and you have not provided me with a request to speak slip, please do so at this time. We will be closing the request to speak period momentarily. If you are in our virtual environment, please raise your hand now. We will be calling the name of our final speaker. At this time, we will begin with our in-person request to speak. We have a total of three requests to speak. Excuse me. So to clarify for individuals in the virtual environment, this is for consent calendar items only. Please leave your hand raised if you wish to speak. So we'll begin with our, we have three requests to speak. Our first speaker will be Rick Bonilla, and we'll move to our virtual environment where our final speaker will be Judy. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk.

In reading the consent calendar, I was, I can't describe it. Anyway, item seven, the Marina Library. I have a question. How did we get so far off? How did the soils testing fail to show that there was going to be so much additional work necessary? And amendment, by the way, is a new word for a change order, which I know got a bad reputation quite a while ago. It means that something went wrong. Soil tests weren't done correctly. Much extra work is necessary to be able to properly execute this project and come out with what we need in the end, a functioning library. Representative Mullen gave us money for this thing three years ago when I was on the council. And here we are now looking at a problem that I think, if it were really up to me, I would stop the project until we get answers to why we're here. This is outrageous. The change order that's requested here is crazy. The time this has gone on, the lack of professionalism, in my opinion, and I come from this field. If I was running that job, it would have been way different. Can somebody please address that? Thank you. Can I have your speakers real quick?

We will now move to our virtual environment, where our first speaker will be Mike Swire. Mike, please go ahead and unmute your microphone.

Yeah, hi. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Awesome. Thanks so much, Council, for all your service. Thanks to our staff, too. Two quick comments on different items. First of all, I applaud the city going out and getting the traffic safety grant from the state to increase enforcement on our streets. If you look online, you will see dozens of people complaining about the anarchy on our streets, and it's basically lawless out there. And I don't fault the PD. They do the best they can with limited resources they have. But I really think that we need to devote more money on a regular basis, not just ad hoc as the grant, I think, funds an ongoing commitment to preventing traffic violence and making sure that there are more traffic cops on our street. I'm not sure if that's more money for the PD or reallocation of existing resources, but we need more cops out there as soon as possible. Second of all, there's an item where we're spending, I think, $1.6 million to fix one of our parking garages. We heard a couple months ago that most of our parking garages are severely underutilized and certainly not making money. Not that that's the objective, but Again, I think that we need to do an audit of our existing downtown parking facilities. How much are we losing every year maintaining these things through ad hoc expenses such as this? Can we rationalize that and somehow get rid of some of these very costly assets and instead build some recreation facilities, build some much-needing housing downtown? We just don't need this much parking, especially when we're making money all these other improvements that are making it safer to get downtown via transit or walk or bike. That's all. Thanks so much.

Thank you. And our final speaker for the consent calendar will be Judy. Judy, please unmute your mic. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

Hello. Hello there. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

OK, great. Is this the correct time in the meeting where I can criticize our government for working for the Jews to continue genocide? Thank you.

You must refer your comments to items on the consent calendar. Otherwise, as displayed on the slide, your opportunity to speak will be removed.

Okay, I'm gonna wait for the non-agenda items to discuss my problems with the Jews, thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Lorraine, that concludes public comment on the consent calendar.

Thank you, and just before we continue, I do just wish to add on to this that we in the city of San Mateo condemn hateful, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and racist speech in the strongest possible terms. At a time of rising antisemitism and hate speech, we do not stand for it. Hate speech can have real consequences. The country has had numerous mass shooting events, including the Atlanta spa shootings of 2021 and the Buffalo supermarket shooting of 2022. We embrace the rights of all individuals in our community to be who they are in terms of their sexuality, gender, religious orientation and beliefs and we will always do so. So I appreciate the city clerk's work on that. Before we continue, I did think I would like to ask city staff if they have any responses to other public comments that were given.

Happy to respond. So I'm going to first ask our public works director, Matt Fabry, to go ahead and respond to Rick Bonilla's comments about the pile driving of Marina Library.

COUNCIL MEMBER. COUNCIL MEMBER. GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL, MATT GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL, MATT FABRIC, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR. FABRIC, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR. WE DID WITH THE MARINA LIBRARY WE DID WITH THE MARINA LIBRARY PROJECT, THE PROJECT INCLUDES PUTTING PROJECT, THE PROJECT INCLUDES PUTTING IN HELICAL PILES WHICH ARE PILES IN HELICAL PILES WHICH ARE PILES DRIVEN DOWN INTO THE GROUND DRIVEN DOWN INTO THE GROUND THAT GET TO DEPTH WHERE THEY THAT GET TO DEPTH WHERE THEY ENCOUNTER ENOUGH STABILITY THAT ENCOUNTER ENOUGH STABILITY THAT THE LIBRARY COULD BE SUPPORTED THE LIBRARY COULD BE SUPPORTED ON THOSE PILES PILES NEEDED TO GO TO ON DIFFERENT LOCATIONS WITHIN THE PILES NEEDED TO GO TO ON DIFFERENT LOCATIONS WITHIN THE FOOTPRINT OF THE BUILDING. FOOTPRINT OF THE BUILDING. AND SO WE DETERMINED THAT THERE AND SO WE DETERMINED THAT THERE WERE SOME LOCATIONS WHERE THEY WERE SOME LOCATIONS WHERE THEY HAD TO GO MUCH DEEPER THAN WHAT HAD TO GO MUCH DEEPER THAN WHAT THE DESIGN ENGINEER THE DESIGN ENGINEER ANTICIPATED. ANTICIPATED. SO THE AMENDMENT IS TO ADD AN SO THE AMENDMENT IS TO ADD AN ADDITIONAL $123,000 ON A $1.1 ADDITIONAL $123,000 ON A $1.1 MILLION AGREEMENT TO ADDRESS MILLION AGRE

Thank you for this to have any other questions from Council on this. Thank you for that. Yes, city manager, anything else?

Yeah, I'm happy to respond to the comments from commenter Mike Swire this evening just about our downtown parking. The city is actually embarking on a study of its downtown parking, specifically what the speaker was actually highlighting overall, the usage of downtown parking and also just the future of our downtown parking garages. So I just wanted to let you know that will be underway in the next few months, and we'll be coming to council probably early next year on that item.

Excellent, thank you.

Council Member Schakowsky.

Yes, I just wanted to call out and say thank you to the city of San Mateo and to our public work staff for improving our citywide creeks and maintenance program. So we're actually adding $40,000 in investment AND THEN WE'RE ADDING THE 19th AVENUE AND 16th AVENUE AND THEN WE'RE ADDING THE 19th AVENUE AND 16th AVENUE CHANNELS TO OUR CITYWIDE CREEK CHANNELS TO OUR CITYWIDE CREEK MAINTENANCE PROGRAM WHICH IS A HUGE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM WHICH IS A HUGE DEAL BECAUSE AS MANY OF YOU KNOW WE DEAL BECAUSE AS MANY OF YOU KNOW WE HAVE CREEKS ALL ACROSS THE CITY. HAVE CREEKS ALL ACROSS THE CITY. THEY NEED A LOT OF MAINTENANCE AND THEY WERE A BIG CONTRIBUTING FACTOR IN THE 2022 FLOODING. FACTOR IN THE 2022 FLOODING. SO I'M JUST REALLY PLEASED TO SEE SO I'M JUST REALLY PLEASED TO SEE THAT INVESTMENT. THAT INVESTMENT. THE OTHER BIG INVESTMENT I WANTED THE OTHER BIG INVESTMENT I WANTED TO CALL OUT IS THE STORM DRAIN TO CALL OUT IS THE STORM DRAIN IMPROVEMENTS AND JUST SAY THANK YOU IMPROVEMENTS AND JUST SAY THANK YOU TO CITY STAFF FOR THAT. TO CITY STAFF FOR THAT. THERE'S OVER 200,000 BEING THERE'S OVER 200,000 BEING INVESTED TO FIX THE STORM DRAINS INVESTED TO FIX THE STORM DRAINS ACROSS THE CITY. ACROSS THE CITY. SO YOUR TAX

Excellent. Thank you, Council Member Spierko-Kaditsky. At this time, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar. So moved. Second. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. City Clerk, can you please call roll?

Council Member Newsom? Yes. Council Member Diaz-Nash?

Yes.

Council Member Spierko-Kaditsky?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Fernandez? Yes. Mayor LaRaine? Yes. The motion carries 5-0.

Thank you.

Through the mayor.

Yes, Council Member Diaz-Nash.

Thank you very much. Since we have people in the room now, I'm wondering if we could be a little bit out of sync and ask our city manager to give us an update on the VLF events of last week and where our next steps are.

HAPPY TO RESPOND. SO THE VEHICLE LICENSE FEE IS A FUNDING REVENUE. IT WAS A MAJOR FUNDING REVENUE FOR THE CITY BACK IN 2004 UPON THE RECALL ELECTION OF GREY DAVIS AND THE GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER GETTING IN CHARGE, ONE OF THE PROMISES WAS TO REDUCE THE VEHICLE LICENSE FEE FOR residents of the state of California. And so with that, in order to make that happen, the state went ahead and they took the vehicle license fee money away from all the cities and the counties in the state of California, and they replaced that with property tax to backfill that. So fast forward now to today, San Mateo County is unique because what they use for a funding mechanism was funding from prop 98 funds that would help school districts and we're unique here in the state of California because our property values are so high so the property taxes that are collected are basically well enough to pay for basic aid schools so there's basic aid and non-basic aid schools and so As part of this crazy funding formula from 2004, if you move from non-basic aid to basic aid schools, this funding gap gets larger. And so with us in San Mateo County, two school districts just flipped recently. And so we were already looking at a funding shortfall of $6 million. That just jumped to $12.9 million overnight in the last two weeks. And that's an additional $5.7 million. And so our budget deficit for the city for this current fiscal year JUMPED FROM ABOUT 12.8 MILLION ALL THE WAY UP TO 18.2 MILLION OVERNIGHT. AND SO IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT TO GET THOSE NUMBERS AND SO THE COUNTY AND IT'S 20 CITIES WE GOT TOGETHER WITH A CALL TO ACTION LAST THURSDAY TO DEMAND THAT THE STATE BACKFILL THESE FUNDS. IT'S $226 MILLION. for this for the county of san mateo and its 20 cities and this pays for the essential services that the county and the cities provide to our residents and businesses who are here in our communities and so with that there is a last final push for advocacy during the this last legislative period with the state of california which ends at the end of this month And so we're trying to lift up the voices of this county in the halls of Sacramento to demand that we receive our rightful funding source, which is our vehicle license fee and $12.9 million. And so, um, both Mayor Lorraine and I and council members here, we went out to the county center down in Redwood City and held a press conference and also a joint meeting with the County Board of Supervisors demanding those funds. And so we'll continue that advocacy. We'll be writing letters and we'll ask the community to write letters because this will have direct impacts in the future if we do not receive these funds for our local city services. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you city manager and Council member D is Nash do we have any questions on that very good. Well, I appreciate this being shared while we do have people in the audience. And at this time I will move on to general public comment. So next that's This is for items that are not on our agenda tonight. If anyone in the room or on Zoom has a public comment to give, you may address the city council at this time. State law prevents council from taking action on any matter not on the agenda. Your comments, however, may be referred to staff for follow-up. This public comments section is generally limited to a total of 15 minutes. However, that is subject to council's discretion and can be extended if council wishes to do so. If needed, an opportunity for additional public comment may also be provided later in the agenda. And I'll just indicate what's behind me right now as a reminder. So city clerk, can you please tally the total number of requests to speak on general public comment?

Certainly. And just to reiterate, we welcome speakers providing public comment, but please be advised this is a limited public forum. As such, speakers must stay on topic if speaking to a particular agenda item. And if speaking during general public comment, they must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city. If speakers fail to follow these rules, they will be warned, and if they continue to disregard our rules, their opportunity to speak will be ended. That being said, we will now accept requests to speak. If you're in person and you wish to speak on general public comment, any items not on the agenda, please provide me with a request to speak slip. If you're in a virtual environment, please raise your hand. We'll give just a moment to do so. Seeing no additional requests to speak, we will have a total of three requests to speak, two in person, and our final speaker will be Judy. We will begin with request to speak in person. If I call your name, if you could please come up to the podium. And if you're waiting to speak, please line up to my right. Our first speaker will be Michael Sevilla, followed by Mary Carvalho.

Dears City Council, it's August and San Mateo residents are still unable to secure tea time reservations at our municipal golf course, Poplar Creek. I was previously informed that updates to the reservation system would be implemented this summer. to prioritize local residents. I am writing to ask for a direct update on where this process stands and when residents can expect these changes to take effect. Additionally, I was told that updating the reservation system was tied to securing a new vendor for the restaurant and event space These facilities have now been closed for nearly two years, with no visible progress. Given the ongoing litigation with the previous vendor, it seems unlikely that this situation will be resolved anytime soon, as prospective vendors may hesitate to take over operations under these circumstances. Many resident golfers share the same core question. Why is updating the reservation system tied to reopening the clubhouse? To us, these issues appear separate. While the closed clubhouse results in significant lost revenue, the current reservation system compounds those losses through unused tee times due to no-shows and short shows, all while frustrating local residents eliminating the 14-day booking window for vip members is a straightforward fix that can be done right now rather than waiting for the lengthy clubhouse situation to resolve The city of San Mateo should take immediate action to protect its revenue and restore fairness by updating the reservation system. Furthermore, I urge the city to ensure that future leadership over municipal facilities strictly adheres to the rules and regulations outlined in the municipal code and the city charter. Based on my research, the current VIP membership reservation structure raises serious concerns regarding compliance and fairness. This is a petition that I've been filling up. We have hundreds of signatures here, all from San Mateo golfers who don't like this system and would like it changed. Please help. Thank you.

Thank you. And our next speaker will be Mary Carvalho.

Good evening, Mayor Lorraine and council members. I would like to invite the city, council, and members of the community to attend a free public forum titled When the Mission Follows You Home. The event will be held on Thursday, September 10th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Central Peninsula Church located at 1005 Shell Boulevard in Foster City. The forum will focus on the mental health challenges that can affect veterans and first responders while highlighting the resources, support, and conversations that help individuals recover and thrive. Although the forum center, oh, supporting those who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving others is a community responsibility, and we hope this event will help strengthen those connections. We would be honored to have you join us and help spread the word. Registration is not required. The event is free and more information will be on the Eventbrite link. And all you have to do is look up when the mission follows you home. Thank you again for your support and willingness to help with everyone contributing to the outreach effort. We can ensure this forum reaches the people who need it most and make a positive impact throughout the community.

Thank you. Moving to our virtual environment where our final speaker will be Judy. Judy, please unmute your mic.

Yes, hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Okay, good evening. This is Judy Stroyer from City Council Death Squad, a free speech activist group. On July 1st, 2026, State Bill 707 took effect. Every eligible city in California is now required by law to offer remote public comment for every public meeting. Disabled residents, working parents, elderly citizens, people could never make it to a council meeting in person. They now have a legal right to be heard. That didn't happen by accident. That happened because of the City Council Death Squad spent three years talking about genocide and what the Jews are Thank you.

You must address subject matter jurisdiction. Please consider this your second warning. If you fail to do so, your opportunity to participate will be removed.

Oh, you will be getting a letter from me and my lawyer. You are violating my First Amendment right now, sir. Please be quiet. We spoke, they muted us. We're talking about free speech here, sir. An unrelated comment. You cannot restrict my free speech. Give me back my time. And do not take my time away again, you punk bitch. Now listen.

Thank you. Your opportunity, you have received two warnings. Your opportunity to speak has been removed. Mayor Lorraine, that concludes general public comment.

Thank you. Just look toward city manager and just see if he has Any response to any comments that have been heard?

So I happen to speak to the public golf comment. Just specifically on the golf course in the restaurant, we are looking at getting a request for proposal out for a new operator for the restaurant out there. I believe it'll hit the streets in the month of September, and then we'll get the responses and then take next steps from there. So there is movement on there. The city spent... a lot of money to repair that restaurant facility and get it ready for a new provider out there. So that'll be getting out there. Specifically on the VIP item, I know that our acting parks and rec director will be reaching out to Mr. Sevilla if he hasn't already received that invitation to sit down and talk further about the VIP program over there as well. And so I know that is forthcoming as well. Thank you.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

THROUGH THE MAYOR?

THROUGH THE MAYOR? YES. YES.

IF I COULD JUST ASK THAT IF I COULD JUST ASK THAT MS. CARVALHO GIVE THE INFORMATION MS. CARVALHO GIVE THE INFORMATION FOR THE SESSION YOU'RE TALKING FOR THE SESSION YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT TO OUR CITY CLERKS SO ABOUT TO OUR CITY CLERKS SO THAT WE CAN ALL MAKE SURE WE THAT WE CAN ALL MAKE SURE WE HAVE IT. HAVE IT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU FOR THAT SUGGESTION. THANK YOU FOR THAT SUGGESTION.

I APPRECIATE THAT. Now, yes. Sure.

Question to the city manager.

Do we have a timeline as to when we plan to reopen the golf courses dining facility?

So it would probably be early next year is what we're looking at in terms of timeline.

Thank you. OK. At this time, we'll Finish public comment and move to the public hearing item number 21, 616 South B Street, a new eight-story commercial residential mixed-use building. Punting application 2025-039, approval. And we have some staff from our community development department who will begin the hearing with a presentation. ASSOCIATE PLANNER. GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME. GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME.

THANKS, MAYOR LORRAINE AND THANKS, MAYOR LORRAINE AND THANK YOU, CITY COUNCIL. YOU, CITY COUNCIL. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. I'M LIZ GALIARDI, ASSOCIATE I'M LIZ GALIARDI, ASSOCIATE PLANNER WITH THE COMMUNITY PLANNER WITH THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AND I WILL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT AND I WILL BE GIVING TONIGHT'S STAFF BE GIVING TONIGHT'S STAFF PRESENTATION FOR THIS ITEM, PRESENTATION FOR THIS ITEM, WHICH IS FOR A PROPOSED EIGHT-STORY WHICH IS FOR A PROPOSED EIGHT-STORY MIXED-USE COMMERCIAL AND So just a quick overview before I dive into the presentation. First, I will cover some background on the project, then move into a code and policy review, wrapping up with a summary of public notice and the staff recommendation for project approval. So starting with some project history, this application began with a preliminary application under the Housing Crisis Act or Senate Bill 330, initially filed on March 28, 2025. Then the applicant held their required neighborhood meeting, followed shortly thereafter with a submittal of their formal planning application on June 20, 2025. Since the initial submittal, the project has been reviewed by city staff and refined by the applicant to ensure compliance with applicable local codes and state laws. And this project is exempt from CEQA under the Class 32 infill exemption, which I'll provide a bit more context on later on. So before diving into the current application tonight, I just wanted to provide some context here to highlight that this application does follow a prior project approval made by the same applicant for a similar scope of work, which was initially approved in December 2023. and expired December of last year. So this chart shows the comparison between the prior application and the current application, which has taken advantage of increased height and density. I'm happy to come back to this if we'd like to look at that some more. And this slide just shows a comparison between the prior expired application on the left and the current proposed design on the right. This map shows the project location highlighted in blue, which, as you can see, is south of downtown San Mateo and the downtown Caltrain station. Also nearby is Central Park, which you can see highlighted in green. This slide shows more of a 3D aerial view of the project site and the surrounding neighborhood, including some surrounding mixed-use commercial and multifamily residential buildings. Here's a closer look at the existing site from street level. There are two existing one-story commercial buildings, currently Kelly Moore Paints and Tap Plastics, which are proposed to be demolished. And this slide shows the project location also highlighted in blue in context with some current and recently approved development projects since there's a lot going on downtown. I'm happy to come back to this if we want to revisit the context of that some more as well. So now that we have a sense of the project location, I'll dive into what is proposed. As mentioned before, this is for an eight-story mixed-use commercial and residential building with ground floor commercial space oriented along South B Street. There are 94 residential units proposed on floors four through eight. And for parking, there are 113 stalls proposed within an internal parking garage on floors one through three. This chart shows some more detail for how the 94 units are broken up. The project includes a mix of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom units. And of the 94 units, 84 will be market rate and 10 will be affordable at the very low income level. And all of the units are proposed for rent. This highlighted some of the project areas. So in orange here, you'll see the commercial retail area along South B Street, as well as the trash collection and loading zone on 6th Avenue, as well as two arrows pointing to the different parking garage entrances, one off of 7th Avenue for the residential parking garage entrance, and then on 6th Avenue, an access point for the commercial and visitor parking. So for this application, three planning entitlements are required, the first being site plan and architectural review, or SPAR, for the new mixed-use building, which requires city council approval since it exceeds the general plan height limit. Additionally, this project also includes a site development planning application for removal of major vegetation. A total of six trees will be removed, including two protected trees, and they're proposing replacement planting of 12 trees. the project also includes a tentative parcel map to merge five existing lots into one so moving along to our code and policy review the project has a general plan land use designation of mixed use medium 2 which sets the height and density standards under the general plan the maximum density for this site is 99 dwelling units per acre and the maximum height is six stories This project does include a density bonus request pursuant to state law to double the base density and exceed the height limit by two stories, as well as an increase to the allowable floor area ratio. The project site is zoned C3R5, so neighborhood commercial with a residential overlay for mixed use. And it is also within the downtown area plan. This slide includes a summary of the applicable development standards. And I'm happy to come back to this in more detail if there are questions. In addition to local codes and policies, there are several state laws that are applicable to this project. So the first that I'll highlight here is the state density bonus law. So as mentioned before, the project proposes a 50% density increase to provide one and a half times the allowable density on site. So it's going from a base density of 64 units up to 94 units total proposed. UNDER STATE DENSITY BONUS LAW, THE PROJECT WOULD ALSO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THREE CONCESSIONS AND UNLIMITED WAIVERS. THE PROJECT TAKES FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE ALLOWABLE DENSITY INCREASE AS MENTIONED BEFORE GOING UP TO 94 UNITS AND HAS ALSO INCLUDED A REQUEST FOR ONE CONCESSION AND SEVERAL WAIVERS FROM DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS. THIS SLIDE INCLUDES A SUMMARY OF THAT CONCESSION REQUEST AS WELL AS THE PROJECT WAIVERS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED. And then in addition to state density bonus law, there are several other state laws that are applicable for this project. These include the Housing Crisis Act or Senate Bill 330, which vests the project date to applicable development standards and fees at the time of their preliminary application, as well as the Housing Accountability Act and Assembly Bill 2097, which exempts the project from minimum parking requirements due to its proximity to transit. The project must also comply with the city's below market rate inclusionary program for affordable housing. This project meets the local affordability requirements with the very low income units provided. These units are distributed throughout the development and include unit sizes, types, and designs that are proportional to the development in line with local standards. Moving on to design review, I'll move through some different elevations and renderings of the project, starting here with a view from 7th Ave and South B Street. As you can see, the project has a defined corner feature. This also highlights the podium style of the building with that commercial and parking shown on floors one through three and the upper levels devoted to the residential uses. This view from South B Street looking out towards 6th Avenue shows the building in relation to the existing mixed-use building across the street. Here's a view from 6th Avenue. As you can see, this includes the garage entry for the retail and visitor parking. Another view from 6th Avenue and South B Street, just looking out a little bit for the full project view. Here we see the project viewed from South B Street looking out towards 7th Avenue. A closer view from 7th Avenue towards South B Street. This includes the vehicle entrance for the residential parking there off of 7th Ave. And here's a rear elevation showing kind of a bird's eye view from Seventh Avenue. As you can see here, there is a residential amenity deck proposed along the fourth floor and a step back provided there as well. Here's the conceptual rendering with a closer view of that residential amenity deck. And this site plan of the ground floor just highlights again where that retail area is proposed along South B Street. with the parking oriented towards the interior or the back of the project. And again, just a view of the elevation looking at the project from South B Street. As you can see, the retail is clearly defined on the ground floor with the residential units distinguished in design above. THE NEXT ASPECT OF THE CODE AND POLICY REVIEW I WANTED TO THE NEXT ASPECT OF THE CODE AND POLICY REVIEW I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT HERE IS RELATED TO THE HIGHLIGHT HERE IS RELATED TO THE TRANSPORTATION IMPACT ANALYSIS OR TRANSPORTATION IMPACT ANALYSIS OR TIA WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR THIS TIA WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR THIS PROJECT BY HEXAGON TRANSPORTATION PROJECT BY HEXAGON TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANTS AND PEER REVIEWED BY CONSULTANTS AND PEER REVIEWED BY CITY STAFF AND CONSULTANTS. CITY STAFF AND CONSULTANTS. THIS INCLUDES THREE KIND OF THIS INCLUDES THREE KIND OF ASPECTS OF THE No impact was found for VMT since this project meets screening criteria for an exemption from a detailed VMT analysis under CEQA. Next, we looked at level of service, or LOS, and the project was found to have no adverse effects since study intersections that were looked at would operate at an acceptable level of service under the existing opening year and cumulative conditions. THEN FINALLY THE PROJECT IS ALSO SUBJECT TO TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT PLAN OR TDM PLAN REQUIREMENTS BASED ON THE CITY COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENT'S POLICY SO THAT REQUIRES A MINIMUM OF 25% TRIP REDUCTION AND THE PROJECT HAS PROPOSED TO EMPLOY TDM MEASURES THAT WOULD RESULT IN A 32.5% REDUCTION. This slide highlights a couple of the pedestrian safety improvements that the project will be required to employ. Here highlighted in the yellow boxes, you can see that they will be installing high visibility crosswalks at the intersections of South B Street with 6th and 7th Avenue. And on this slide, highlighted in yellow, you can see an additional curb extension that is proposed at the 7th Ave and South B Street intersection. This slide includes a summary of impact fee estimates for the project. I'll note here that these are estimates, and the exact amounts will be calculated at the time that the project is required to pay, but it will be contributing to the following fee requirements. And then for environmental review, as I mentioned before, the project was found to be categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, pursuant to the class 32 infill development projects exemption. A CEQA memo was prepared finding no unusual or significant effects with implementation of the standard conditions of approval, which is included as an attachment to the agenda report. ON JULY 9, 2026 THE PLANNING COMMISSION HEARD THIS PROJECT AND PROVIDED A RECOMMENDATION BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE TO THE CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL. THEY DID INCLUDE AN ADDED CONDITION OF APPROVAL TO INCORPORATE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CITY'S RETAIL although they did specifically remove a recommendation to require additional retail ceiling height on the ground floor as this would be difficult to achieve with the current project design without major changes. This slide shows a summary of those retail space recommendations which have been incorporated into that condition of approval with the exception of the retail ceiling heights. And finally, public notice requirements for this project have been met in advance of tonight's hearing with required mailed notices and publication in the newspaper, all going out 10 days in advance of the hearing. Additional notice was provided in the e-newsletter for the planning division and to our interested parties list. FINALLY, STAFF HAVE NOTED A COUPLE OF MODERN MODIFICATIONS TO THE CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL FOR THIS PROJECT, WHICH ARE SHOWN HERE ON THIS SLIDE. THE FIRST BEING MINOR CLEANUP TO REMOVE SOME TEMPLATE LANGUAGE FROM CONDITION NUMBER 7 FOR COMMERCIAL LINKAGE FEE Next is a modification to condition number 41, which addresses mixed-use parking garage security, and this modification would remove overly restrictive language related to business operation hours for the commercial component of the project and then the final modification proposed is to condition number 100 for video surveillance standards also a security measure and similarly would modify the language to remove overly prescriptive language instead replacing that with a requirement that video surveillance systems be designed to meet industry standards And these have also been reviewed by the city's police department for concurrence. So with that, that takes me to our staff recommendation, which is up here on the slide to adopt the resolution as shown here and to incorporate the recommended condition modifications. That concludes my presentation. Happy to revisit any slides or answer questions as needed. Thank you.

Thank you for that presentation. I understand at this time we may have a presentation separately from the applicant. If so, we can go ahead with that at this time. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Lorraine, council members. My name is Evan Sokoloski with Arc Tech. We are the designers and architects of the project. Excited to be here in front of you today with a housing project and a project that's taken us a while to get to this point. So I will go through this presentation relatively quickly because Liz did a great job of outlining many of the key aspects of the project. So next slide. Little bit about Nazareth Enterprises. They're a local developer headquartered here in San Mateo doing commercial, residential, and retail throughout Northern California. They currently have two other mixed use projects in San Mateo, Nazareth Plaza and Terrace. In fact, adjacent right to the new project. And this will be the third large project in San Mateo. Project site, I think we all know that. Again, I think a lot of this was covered by Liz's presentation. We did have a chance to significantly increase the density of this project was really the goal when the opportunity presented itself. And as Liz noted, we actually did this project before, but this is one of the reasons that Measure T is so successful. We had done the project. The client had decided to move towards construction of that project. When Measure T was approved, made the decision to go back through the process to provide the city and provide a better project to the community of San Mateo. And it allowed us to make changes that gave 46 additional units to the project. Again, just the site plan. As noted, we have two separate garage entries, so we're separating those two uses with the visitor retail on the right and taking your parking up above for the residential on 7th Avenue. Floor plans, one of the unique features of this project also made available through the increased densities and height of the new general plan is it allowed us to bring the parking above grade and we worked very closely with staff to make sure that parking garage does not look like a parking garage. Dave Kuntz, Next slide and just just to flip through here as noted there's a significant amenity space on the fourth level, as well as a Community room, so we look to create some very nice spaces for our residents and just moving up and we can kind of shift to some of the renderings. So as noted, this is the view from 7th and B Street. One of the things that we take pride in is if I look at this building, I don't necessarily see a parking garage. I see a nice building with a strong base and residential above. And we thought that was very important to make sure what we were able to do read as a cohesive design. flipping to the entry on the other side to the garage and still the frontage of retail. One of the other features you'll notice on this is although the building's eight stories in these views, it looks like it's only seven. That's because we did step the top layer back, which not only gives some nice decks up on the eighth floor, but it also changes the massing of the building. And these are two of the entry features on the two ends, on 6th and 7th Avenue. And views of the amenity deck, as Liz noted in her presentation, these are conceptual. During our planning commission hearing, public noted concerns about the TV. And as you see from here, it's located in a position that potentially there could be some visibility from neighboring buildings. We actually took that into account as we're developing the project in CDs, looking at changing the position of that TV so it faces back into our property and doesn't allow any of that concern. So we did want to listen to those comments that were made during the Planning Commission hearings. And this is just, again, looking at that deck. At these stages, those are some of the things, well, many features of the building we need to detail and design and work closely with staff for approval. That amenity deck is something that because it's elevated, because it is a private use, it gives us a little more flexibility to respond to things as they come up later on. And so with that, open to any questions. Again, we're really excited to get to this point and looking for your approval. Munir is very excited to get this thing built as it's been a long time in process.

Thank you for that. At this time, I would open up the item to public comment. And so city clerk, please feel free to tally speakers for.

Certainly. Mayor Lorraine, if you wish to speak on this item, you have not provided me with a request to speak slip. Please do so now. They're available at the front of the chamber. We also have some directly outside. If you're in our virtual environment, please raise your hand now. We will be calling the name of our final speaker in just a few moments. Mayor Lorraine, we have five requests to speak and our final speaker in our virtual environment will be Norman. Per council adopted rules and procedures, that'll set the timer at three minutes per speaker. If I call your name, if you could please approach the podium or line up to my right, so that makes sure we receive all of your comments expeditiously. Our first speaker will be Darren Clark, followed by Al Quinn and Haley Deza, and Richard Evans Sutton.

Good evening, Mayor, Deputy Mayor. Council members, staff, great job, Liz. I wanna share, my name is Darren Clark. I'm a field rep for the Carpenters Local 217 representing San Mateo County. I would like to share a bit of my own story. I have been a union carpenter out in the field for 35 years. I've worked on just about every type of construction you can think of. I went through the apprenticeship program, became a journeyman, ran work for over a decade as a foreman and a superintendent. Throughout my career, I've mentored dozens of apprentices and journeymen coming up through the ranks. I mention my background because a project like this, this one before you tonight, is what jump-started my entire career 35 years ago. Ironically, it was built right on the very same block, the Stratford condominiums. Because I know firsthand how these projects change lives, I'm here tonight asking this council to request that the developer have a real conversation with the Carpenters Union. We want to ensure the selection of a responsible general contractor for this project, one that pays area standard wages, provides quality healthcare, hires locally, and supports state accredited apprenticeships. Local 217 represents over 2,000 members who live right here in San Mateo County. We pay taxes here, we vote here, we should be able to work here. The Carpenters have reached out multiple times to the applicant with no response back. Our ask tonight is simple. Please urge the applicant of this project to sit down, have a conversation with us, and commit to getting the job done right by using a responsible general contractor. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Our next speaker will be Alcuin and Haley Deza. We will now move on to our final speaker in chambers, which will be Richard Evan Sutton.

Good evening, Mayor Lorraine, council people, spectators. My name is Richard Evans Sutton, and I recently graduated college from Penn State, recently moved back home. I would like this council to provide their full support for this project because we just need more housing in this county. As someone from Gen Z, someone bearing the brunt of the housing crisis, I sometimes question whether or not I will be able to afford a home, let alone be able to afford to rent an apartment in what has been my home since 2012. While I would like this project to include more affordable housing units, I also acknowledge that the market rate units will indeed, they won't help rent go down. They'll just make rent go up a little bit slower. But I think that's a very, very important tool. I would like this project, I would like to see this project be built and be built with union labor, with good wages and good working conditions and all the amenities that would help great talented people and businesses move into it and provide our local government with much needed tax revenue. In addition, I would also like this council to consider even more projects, to attract even more of these mixed-use projects that have been seen around the world and are proven to provide good urban environments for public transit, for community, and for people in general. Sometimes people meet their significant others in dense apartments. And it's for these reasons that I encourage the city council to support this project unanimously as it stands. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving to our virtual environment where our next speaker will be Mike Swire. Mike, please go ahead and unmute yourself.

Yeah, hi, Council. Thank you so much for letting me speak. I support the project.

I wanted to refer you, everybody, to the excellent article that the Daily Journal had this week by Max Mautner on the negative impacts of our traditional parking mandates on many people's lives. This is a great project, even though it doesn't offer a zillion parking spaces for every single resident. The fact is, especially so close to transit, not everybody needs multiple cars in their lives. Just because car light living doesn't align with everybody's lifestyle, it doesn't mean that other people cannot enjoy it and they should be able to find housing if they need it. There also seems to be concern that maybe developers won't be able to fill the units given that most people have a lot of cars. But I think developers, when they spend millions of dollars, are usually pretty smart and they're not going to invest their money if they're not going to be able to fill the units. Again, many of these units are going towards lower income residents. Remember that many people in America cannot afford the $50,000 price of a car. There are existing census tracts downtown where the average cars per household is already around one. So this project will fit right in. It's right near Caltrains, and there's hundreds of local businesses there. If we want less traffic, we want fewer cars on the road, not more. If we want people to shop and play in downtown San Mateo, we want them to be right there and not be driving elsewhere. Finally, I want to praise the applicant for their commitment to the youth of San Mateo. I believe that Nazareth's the same company that owns and operates the Ice Oasis and the Bridgepoint Shopping Center. Ice Oasis hosts the San Mateo Black Stars Hockey Club, the last surviving youth hockey program in San Mateo County. I doubt they make much, if any, money operating the rink on such valuable land. Munir and family have consistently impressed me with their commitment to the youth recreation in the city. Please approve the project and allow us to add more housing capacity without clogging our roads with more car traffic. Thank you.

Thank you. And our final speaker will be Norman. Norman, please go ahead and unmute your mic.

Thank you. I am a resident of the Gramercy, and despite some initial misgivings, I support this project because it will make our immediate neighborhood more attractive, and especially because it will supply badly needed community housing. Since my primary concern had been pedestrian safety, I had paid less attention to the fourth floor outside terrace or amenity deck. Although I realized that tenants would congregate and socialize there, I assumed that excess noise would be mitigated because we have responsible owners and the ensuing acoustic analysis. It was only quite recently that my and some other people's view of the conceptualized drawing of this very large big screen terrace TV alarmed us. as well as a number of my neighbors, and we had previously not fully appreciated the possibility that excessive noise might emanate from this terrace and adversely impact a number of residents in the area. This could easily affect people in private outdoor common areas, balconies, patios, and those with open windows, as well as nearby closed off interior spaces, especially coming from the fourth floor rather than ground level. The problem, in my opinion, is that just depending on the city's general noise ordinance may very well be insufficient in these circumstances as a continuous 60 decibels till 10 p.m. and then 55 decibels afterwards can still be quite intrusive. I can visualize, for example, a situation where possibly Sunday, Monday, or Thursday night football is on with cheering spectators. And I don't believe it is to anyone's advantage, neither neighbors nor building management, to have future ongoing disagreements over noise levels. Social interaction on the terrace is one thing, but a big screen TV is another. And I feel it is unnecessary to be in that outside location, especially because it could be placed in the community room. So I would request, because it can potentially negatively affect many nearby residents, I would request that a ban on an outdoor terrace TV be a condition of approval. i also hope you might consider a 10 p.m curfew on the terrace and that any forthcoming acoustic analysis also be used to make recommendations on how to maximally dampen any sounds from the terrace thank you very much thank you mayor lorraine that concludes public comment

Thank you very much. I will close public comment and bring this item back to the dais and see if council members have any questions or comments. I see Council Member Spierko-Gorodzki or Council Member Diaz-Nash.

Well, thank you very much to the mayor, and thank you, Liz, for a great presentation. And welcome to the developers and architect. Good to see you all here. So just most of my questions, I guess, are split between questions for the developers and architect and questions for the city. First, I would love to understand what went into your thinking that wound up with no setbacks on B and 7. That was one of the waivers, I believe. Thank you very much.

So regarding the setbacks, in the development of the project, our goal was to maximize the density that we could on this site, providing as many units as we could, as well as much parking that could be accommodated for the residential units. In doing so, and providing the right size and mix of units for a viable project, it facilitated a necessity to request that setback reduction on those frontages. Okay.

I can understand that from a business perspective. I guess it's from a general quality of how the neighborhood's going to feel. I hope that it's designed and you think about what the impact on the neighborhood is going to be without those setbacks. concern I would have. Number two, I want to say thank you in your renderings for including the other buildings in the neighborhood because oftentimes we get these projects and you see the building and you don't see how it's situated. So I would love to strongly encourage our staff if we can, excuse me, to require that that is part of a presentation if that is possible, because I think it's so much more important to see what the building is going to look like once it's built. So I leave that as a suggestion if that's something that can be done. Number three, We've heard a lot of comments, and you responded to one about the TV going the other way from a visual perspective. But how are you thinking about just general noise, whether it is on the deck or in general? That seemed to be a concern of a lot of the neighbors.

Well, I think part of it is the overall goals of the target market that Nazareth Vista is looking for. They're looking at this as a high-end apartment complex. As we said, we're looking at the redevelopment of that amenity space, focusing on the directional volume of that TV, as well as breaking up those spaces. uh we don't anticipate necessarily these large gatherings again as noted you know we do have the requirements of the city's noise ordinance to to maintain and i you know obviously if if these became issues we would have to address them but right now that's not the that's not the belief of the developer the way he anticipates the use of that space okay

Great, and I would just strongly encourage, you're in the neighborhood, you've built a lot of developments, and that's great, just to keep an eye on it so that we have a happy neighborhood as well as an attractive one afterwards. And I guess my last question for... Lisa? Yeah. Oh, I apologize. Okay, I will.

Well, no, through the mayor, if I may, can I ask a question on top of the TV?

Sure, yeah.

So believe it or not, the number one complaint we got from residents is about this television and noise. Yes. And I just wonder if there could be a curfew perhaps, where maybe during weekdays it would be like 8 or 8.30, something that we could monitor, and then maybe weekends like, you know, 10, 11. I would defer to...

Ryan McKay, I work with Nazareth. Thank you for your time. So currently, the developer already operates a terrace down the street. We have a similar issue and we've had no noise complaints so far. that's primarily because the actual closest units to those terraces are our units so we're the most aligned with wanting to keep it so that we're not offending our residents for instance if you look at the design there are three units that are directly off of and i mean right there their shared terrace is right there so we're most aligned with the rest of our residents I realize that we're also needing to be aligned with the rest of the neighborhood. But if you just look at the actual layout of the building, the people that would be complaining first would be our residents. So we're very much in alignment with wanting to keep an orderly and neighborly approach to having that terrace. But I think if we were to... put into actual conditions of approval hours of use, then that starts getting into some fair use stuff, which if I just want to watch TV at night, if it's not bothering anyone, why would we put regulations on that? For instance, think about election night. A lot of time, you're not going to have people cheering, but people may want to gather and watch that on a Tuesday night, and it's not going to be done by 8 o'clock. So if we put limitations on that, those limitations are all the time. And then we already have an established pattern of not being a bad actor. So I would hope that we would extend us the ability to continue doing that. Thank you.

Just one more question and then maybe afterwards I'll ask questions of staff. Not a question, but I would just encourage the developers to speak to the unions about being part of this job because we do support them and we do support the apprenticeship program and we want our buildings to be built with the highest quality and help the people who live and work in San Mateo and San Mateo County to be able to stay here. So if you'd like to say something, please.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

So we appreciate the Carpenters Union reaching out. And the labor decisions for the construction phase have not been made yet. So we'll be consulting with our general contractor. And then our general contractor will help us make decisions as far as who they'll reach out to.

Yeah, but then I guess I would just strongly encourage whoever you choose as the general contractor, strongly encourage them to speak with unions about taking part in the position.

Absolutely. I will commit to asking them to do that.

Thank you. I will pass it over.

Thank you. Council Member Newsom. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

A question for city staff. I think the only business that's still in this space that's operating is Tap Plastic, which is a small manufacturing and DIY space. It's been there for at least 30 years. I'm wondering, have we reached out to them and are we helping them find a new location or do we think we're losing that business?

I might actually ask the property owner or applicant to be able to speak to that. I don't have any awareness on the city side.

Okay. Well, if we aren't, I guess I would just ask that we would try to approach them. There are many opportunities within San Mateo, and we'd obviously like to keep a small business that's been there a long time in our city. Okay. Another thing I noticed was that there is both retail parking and residential parking. And I guess the question for the property owner is, will there be an opportunity for residents to use the commercial parking spaces after business hours? Meaning, if they have a guest spending the night, as long as they're out by 7 or 8 in the morning, will that parking be utilizable for them?

Yes, the intent is that that area of parking could be used for visitors as well as the commercial space.

That should help alleviate some of the neighbors' concerns. Thank you. And I guess the last thing was I was just hoping to get a little more details about the retail makeup of the ground floor. How many retail units do you plan for? How many of these do you plan to be retail versus small restaurants, etc. ?

What we were looking for in developing this project is providing as much flexibility as we could in that retail space. It was developed with the opportunity for up to four different entries, which could be subdivided more. Right now, The client has already looking to secure a lease that's not yet finalized, but that would take a significant portion of that ground floor. So to be having that actually potentially in place before construction begins is really a great opportunity and shows how viable this project is.

Thank you. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Great.

Thank you for those. Anyone else? Did you have more? Well, I suppose maybe if you'll allow me, I'll ask a question or two and I'll bring it back. But duly noted that there is more on this side. I think my first question, if you'll permit me, I apologize, Liz, but in your presentation, you mentioned these modifications to conditions and one of them related to the linkage fee. But could you please just remind me what is changing with that one?

Yeah, absolutely. So the change to the commercial linkage fee condition, the language that's shown up here is what it will read as finalized. So there's some template language in this condition when we enter it into the project to select the applicable resolution. So there's kind of options for the project planner to select the correct one. So it's just removing that template language for the one that does not apply.

I see. Okay. Thank you for that. Let's see. I did have at least maybe a couple questions for the applicant. One is with regard to the residential parking that's being offered, are you considering offering it unbundled? Have you reached a... Has the owner reached a decision on whether they'll be tied to units or offered separately?

That decision hasn't been made at this point.

Okay. Is it open to consideration?

I will again defer to the developer on that.

Okay, very good. I think I'll just note that we've seen a number of projects recently and... At least one of them has offered unbundled parking, and it seems to me that that might be possibly beneficial in that. As a public commenter noted, we do have some members of our community who happen to maybe not own a car. And of course, we have other members of our community who may have multiple cars. And it seems that that flexibility can be useful, particularly for those, I would imagine, who do not have a car to potentially save a little bit and then not bring their car. So I'll just throw that out there. I saw in the presentation that there is interest, or rather something of a commitment to the CCAG transportation demand management measures and going beyond kind of the minimum here to seek a reduction in trips by 32.5%, which would be remarkable. I applaud this effort, but I was just curious and I realize I'm sort of asking on the spot here, but could you talk a little about what would get you to that threshold?

Unfortunately, I'm a little unprepared for that specific question and those specific details, but we can get that information to you. That sounds fine.

Through the mayor, I do actually have a backup slide on this that I'm happy to share. This slide shows the specific measures that the project has committed to to achieve that 32.5%. So quite a few of them here, but they're all listed in this table.

Thank you. I'll just take a quick look to see. All right. I appreciate that. Thank you, Liz. Thank you, Liz. Yeah, I think I'll just try to wrap up my speaking portion, if you will, by giving a quick comment, thanking city staff for bringing in the retail consultant on this and to thank Nazareth for being open to feedback from that consultant and being willing to even incorporate some of that feedback into the conditions for approval of the project. We have seen some projects in the past that have struggled, frankly, to maintain good retail clients. And so that was part of the idea behind the city investing in this retail consultant. And we appreciate that there's an opportunity to share that information and hopefully just in partnership make the best project possible. So with that, I'll return to Councilmember Diaz-Nash for further questions.

Thank you very much. Through the mayor, just two questions for the city. Most of the, I guess maybe Zach, the first one, many of the applicants we get for development apply for a concession and say they can't develop using the Spanish colonial revival architecture style, which is specified, because it's going to be too expensive. And I'm not going to question the economics, but I'm wondering what we can do at the beginning of when projects come in to try and have discussions to encourage projects that echo the style, even if they take a very modern approach, so that there is really buildings talking to each other and having, whether it's the facade or whether it's the windows or whatever it is, I'm not going to try and be an architect. But the buildings talk to each other as opposed to saying it's going to be too expensive and so therefore we want to design a beautiful but very modern building that doesn't necessarily speak to buildings around it.

Yes. Appreciate you highlighting that. And that is definitely a conversation that staff is having with just about every applicant that comes in. Obviously, with the shifting legal requirements, we don't have the same leverage we once did, but we definitely have those conversations. And we do push and nudge for areas big and small to kind of incorporate those elements. I think definitely in the downtown, we're looking at that. And I think as we do our zoning code update. We're looking for opportunities to support those type of design choices as well. But yeah, at the end of the day, we are limited in requiring, but we definitely have those and we do try to have those conversations early while the design is still evolving too. So we appreciate the input and it's definitely something we do try and highlight and discuss with applicants as they come in.

That's great. I would certainly continue to do that. And Mr. Sokoloski, since you are such a prolific architect in our city, I would encourage you to have that in your head as something that I know we've had discussions in the past and have talked about it, but really trying to integrate the architecture as possible would be really welcome. And then I guess the only other question would be for the city. Do we go back and audit TDM? I mean, when we were talking about this is going to save 32.5% reduction, do we ever go back and take a look and see if it actually happened?

This would actually be monitored by CCAG themselves, since this is CCAG's TDM policy. For previous projects that have implemented a TDM that was required by the city, I believe the Transportation Division is looking into ways that those are actively monitored. But this one would be monitored by CCAG.

Okay, well, since I'm on CCAG, I'll go talk to some other people about that. But I would strongly encourage our Transportation Department to, as buildings are built and we have residents and they have great lives, to go back and see what happens. Because I think that would be very informative for future developments as well. Thank you. Those are my questions, Mr. Mayor.

Of course, thank you very much. And I appreciated the opportunity to continue the discussion because it did remind me that I would like to just give one last comment as well, which is to generally indicate that the questions and comments from my fellow council members uh represent me as well and i generally agree with them and and to put a finer point maybe on what councilmember diaz-nash uh asked and related to uh selection of of union work i think i'll just indicate uh that Even in the process of finding the general contractor, I think as was requested by public comment, if you just could please be open to a general contractor who would in fact be willing to work with union labor, we would appreciate that very much. And then in addition, having the meeting with carpenters would be much appreciated. Beyond that, just checking for any final questions or comments. Okay, and... Seeing none, I appreciate Liz bringing us back to a slide and would entertain a motion to adopt the following.

A motion. Second.

that sufficient excellent uh we have a motion in a second uh city clerk can you please have a roll call vote certainly council member sphere kogoditsky yes council member newsom yes council member diaz nash yes deputy mayor fernandez yes mayor lorraine yes motion carries 5-0 thank you this will conclude that item and we'll

Now turn to item 22, another public hearing. This is municipal code amendments ordinance introduction.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. I'm Jason Hilari, Engineering Manager for Public Works. This presentation is for Public Works Code Amendments. To start us off with a short summary, we're introducing an ordinance to amend various chapters to align our code with General Plan 2040 and current best practices. Then this ordinance will be brought back for a second reading and adoption in a future City Council meeting. This presentation will go through our proposed amendments, talk about their backgrounds and what they're doing, any outreach that we performed, and close with our recommendation. Here's a list of our amendments in this ordinance and what they relate to. We have the ADU conversions, property line cleanouts, engineering standards, utility undergrounding, and subdivision requirements. The first one is for ADUs. Currently, any project that removes a garage is required to replace the driveway apron and bring it back to standard sidewalk. So ADU conversions of garages would have been the case here. But due to state code, that cannot be enforced for ADUs. So we're simply amending the code to exempt ADUs and fall in line. The next one is about property line clean outs. So property owners are responsible for their entire sewer lateral from their building to the city main. And therefore the property line clean outs are not required. Previously they were used by the city to provide courtesy maintenance for just the street portion. Since that's no longer the case, we will repeal their requirement for property line clean outs. Chapter 2348 about our engineering standards has been completely rewritten. Currently, we have a standard for public infrastructure with references to documents that are no longer used or no longer part of our modern best practices. The code requires any changes to the standard drawings to be adopted by city council resolution. And the current code also allows for capital improvement projects to modify or use different standards on a case by case basis, which happens to be often. And so we proposed reestablishing the engineering standards, which would consist of three volumes, the drawings, which were adopted in July, and then the next two would be specifications and design criteria that we intend to adopt in the future. We also proposed adopting the Caltrans standards by reference for any scope that we do not cover in our engineering standards. and authorizing the director to make minor technical corrections to streamline keeping our standards current and correct. An example of that would be a minor revision for a standard product that no longer has any manufacturers or fixing any erroneous text. And lastly, would we retain the authority for city projects to modify standards on that case-by-case basis? The current code for utility undergrounding requires that subdivisions only need to have their service laterals and onsite facilities to be placed underground. And following General Plan 2040's Public Services and Facilities Policy 4.14, staff is amending the code to expand that requirement to apply to overhead utilities along and adjacent to project frontages, project sites. This would practically mean that any existing poles or lines in front of a project frontage would be relocated underground, leaving a clear frontage, though this may result in new poles or a connection at the next available frontage. This does not apply to high voltage transmission overhead. That's already an exemption in the current code. So chapter 2660 is our Subdivision Minimum Improvement Requirements. This has a number of changes and I wanted to discuss them a little bit more in detail. So I'll start with the clarifying, so I'll start with all the ones that were just clarifying the language in our code. So the items on this slide have new language meant to clarify and prevent any confusion between staff and developers on what's actually being required. THESE AMENDMENTS WILL NOW EXPLICITLY STATE THAT MINIMUM APPROVEMENTS ARE REQUIRED ALONG PROJECT FRONTAGES. A PROJECT FRONTAGE IS ANY PORTION OF THE RIGHT-OF-WAY DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO A PROPERTY UP TO THE CENTER LINE OF THE STREET. AND I'LL ALSO POINT OUT THAT GRADING AND DRAINAGE IS ALREADY REQUIRED UNDER OUR CODE. WE'RE INCLUDING NEW LANGUAGE TO REFINE IT TO INCLUDE ANY NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS TO PREVENT FLOODING. AND THEN TRAFFIC CONTROL REQUIREMENTS ARE ALSO CLARIFIED TO INCLUDE PEDESTRIAN CROSSINGS AND CONTROL DEVICES AND THAT STREET LIGHTING REQUIREMENTS ALSO INCLUDE PEDESTRIAN SCALE LIGHTING PER OUR PEDESTRIAN MASTER PLAN. Now the next set is portions where we're expanding upon the existing requirements. So pedestrian facilities are broadly required. However, following general plan circulation element policies 3.2 and 3.3, now the code will add a minimum sidewalk width to be either 10 feet or the width that's identified in our city's adopted pedestrian master plan. And that curb ramp replacements are also included. And landscaping and street planting were also already required. However, following community design element policy 3.6, now that requirement will expand to street trees and irrigation. Now, the remainder of the amendments are newly added to the required improvements list, and I'll start again with the undergrounding. This is a bit redundant or repeated from the previous one, but basically subdivisions will be required to underground overhead utilities that exist along their project frontage, which would only be the overhead that's on their side of the street. While staff is following general plan policy that directs us to add this amendment, we aren't the first city to do it. Redwood City, South San Francisco, Mountain View, and Palo Alto are other agencies that already have this requirement. And then so the goal here is to have no overhead along subdivisions frontages And again that practically means that projects would design their underground facility their facilities to connect to the nearest feasible infrastructure Beyond their project frontage such as an existing pole over in the neighbor's front yard or an existing pole across the street if the if there is if that's the next feasible location And I want to give you a quick example of a project that's in San Mateo that did this. It's the classic set Midtown on Tilton. So on the left you have the before and I'm giving you the property line in pink and then on the after is on the right. So that pink you can see to the left of the pink property line is all the existing overhead and I'm highlighting them in red to show what was supposed to be required to be removed. This is very much the case of how we would apply this code. And same here. This is the other side of the project. Here's the pink on the left. You have the before with the pink being the property line. Everything to the right of that is existing overhead that we would have required to be removed. In this case, part of the nearest feasible location was just truncating the pole at the neighbor's driveway and then tying the electrical at the following pole after it. But what this does basically is it leaves a more visually appealing project and it is also safer with the utilities underground not exposed to the elements and clearing the way for things like fire department with their overhead aerial ladders. The next one is following public services and facilities element policy 3.9 and 3.18 for stormwater treatment, like green infrastructure. This is added to the list. Development projects aren't unaware of this. For the past three years, these projects have already been incorporating the same requirement because it's part of the municipal regional permit. SO IT'S NOTHING TO DO. AND ON A RELATED TOPIC, ANY SEWER OR STORM EXPANSIONS OR CAPACITY UPGRADES NECESSARY TO MITIGATE OR ACCOMMODATE A PROJECT'S IMPACT HAS ALSO BEEN ADDED TO THE LIST. AN EXAMPLE OF THAT WOULD BE LIKE A LARGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT TAKING OVER A COMPLETELY EMPTY PARKING LOT AND THAT IS LEADING TO A LARGE AMOUNT OF NEW SEWER FLOW AND THE LOCAL System if it's insufficient that project would be required to upsize it to accommodate it And the last one is the circulate circulation element policy 4.5 is driving the addition of requiring bike facility improvements that are identified in the city's bike master plan to be installed along the project's frontage and And since these amendments in the subdivision code could affect the improvements required for development projects, we performed outreach for the development community. First, staff introduced the amendment during the quarterly developer roundtable that's hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, which was attended by five representatives from different developers. And though that was a limited number of attendees, we expanded our outreach with an email campaign and a second meeting. The email campaign notified developers that these amendments were being brought forth to council. And more emails were sent to invite them to a second meeting where we would take a closer introduction for the developers. And that meeting was held last Tuesday. after hours and was attended by three developer representatives. At both meetings, staff received clarification questions only about how these new requirements would be applied particularly to undergrounding requirements and what the extents are. And there also were questions about how the new sidewalk widths would interface with neighboring properties with existing sidewalks and staff provided answers to those questions in the meetings. So to summarize this ordinance, we will amend the code to exempt ADUs from driveway replacements, no longer require property line cleanouts, establish public works engineering standards, adopt CalTrans standards by reference, and authorize the director to issue minor revisions, require undergrounding of overhead utilities, and align the subdivision code with general plan 2040 policies and actions. So with that, staff recommends the introduction of the ordinance. And the next steps would be that we bring back the ordinance to city council for a second reading and adoption, and then it would become ineffective in 30 days after that. With that, that concludes my presentation. Thank you, and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for the presentation. At this time, I will open up the item for public comment. If you're in chambers and wish to comment, you can hand a request to speak slip to the city court. If you're on Zoom, you may raise your hand. If you're on your phone, you may press star nine. City court, how many comments do we have?

Mayor Lorraine, we have received one request to speak in council chambers and no request to speak in our virtual environment.

I firmly believe there must be comments. I recommend the recommended changes. I think that these are all steps in the right direction. The city's doing some great things right now. I really appreciate that. Although I would like to speak with each and every one of you and offer you an opportunity to talk with me sometime later about something I mentioned earlier, which is off topic right now, so I'll stop. Thanks.

Mayor Lorain, that concludes public comment.

Very well, then I will close public comment on that item and return to the day asked with questions. I think I see Councilmember Skirko-Kudyski.

Yes, thank you. Just to start, I do like the changes. I think this is an important step and I think residents will be happy about it. Just some questions and then a comment. Can you walk me through, you know, when a project is only part of a block, what does that patchwork look like?

Great question. Yeah. So in the context of an undergrounding utilities, it would be if it was half a block, say, for the project that just came before you, it was half a block on 6th and 7th, or not half a block, but a portion of it, They would just be responsible for undergrounding that portion and to the nearest feasible location beyond their frontage. So they wouldn't have any new pole within their frontage, like the perpendicular from their property line. It would be at wherever the nearest existing pole is beyond them. And if that's across the street, it would be across the street. Or if it's on the same block, it'll be on the same block.

Is there any risk, though, that then the city has to pick up the tab?

No, the project would be required to just design to that extent. It wouldn't be on the city's responsibility to underground the rest of the block.

Okay. And then in the actual ordinance, it says minor delegations or engineering changes will fall basically to the public works director's discretion. So what's considered minor delegations?

Yeah, again, an example would be like if it was an erroneous text or if there is a standard product, like if we specify a manhole to be a specific manufacturer and type and that no longer is available, then we would just revise it to be something that we select as the new alternative.

So it's not actually an engineering change.

It's just a minor technical change if it's required in that sense. Yeah, it's not a major engineering change on like a design element.

I feel like it's a little vague in the text, just so you know, because it says engineering changes. So to me, that reads as like some kind of substantial change, even if it's minor.

I see.

We can disagree on semantics, but. And then how are you going to ensure that requirements are proportional to the impact of the projects? And then like did you look at other cities to figure out like what they deem as proportional or not?

That one's pretty straightforward. For almost any development project we have them study if there's an impact and something to mitigate it if there's an impact. For Sewer and Storm were the two ones that I inserted. Sewer is pretty straightforward.

Thank you. Okay. No, okay.

Sorry. Yeah. Yeah sewer is pretty straightforward. We can we have a pretty easy way to estimate if they're gonna generate more sewer Discharge and if that's the case, that's the impact if it's too much for the local sewer main to handle We would have them upsize it to accommodate it storm If they're gonna redirect their storm from one to a storm system to like the other side of the project and that's a whole new system We would have them assess it and see if that needs a capacity upgrade okay, and then

Maybe this is a blue sky. But so oftentimes when developments and projects come through, you know, we hear like a long list of resident concerns about like, oh, they're picking up, the residents are picking up all the impacts. So it would be great if we had some kind of logging mechanism or annual report that went to council or to the public about how these actual changes are impacting developers and what they're doing to mitigate and also, you know, HOW THE COST BURDEN IS BEING REMOVED FROM RESIDENTS.

REMOVED FROM RESIDENTS. I SEE.

I SEE. IS THAT SOMETHING WE COULD DO?

IS THAT SOMETHING WE COULD DO? CAN I JUST ASK FOR YOU TO CAN I JUST ASK FOR YOU TO CLARIFY? CLARIFY? I'M NOT QUITE CERTAIN THAT I'M I'M NOT QUITE CERTAIN THAT I FOLLOW WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR. FOLLOW WHAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR.

YES. YES. I WOULD LIKE TO CREATE AN ANNUAL I WOULD LIKE TO CREATE AN ANNUAL REPORT TO LOG WHAT CHANGES ARE REPORT TO LOG WHAT CHANGES ARE BEING MADE DUE TO THIS ORDINANCE.

BEING MADE DUE TO THIS ORDINANCE. ARE YOU SPEAKING ABOUT THE ARE YOU SPEAKING ABOUT THE MINOR CLARIFIC

So you're looking for the net positive to the residents based off of the implementation of all these new...

Criteria. Criteria. Correct.

That's something I think I can take that back and we can work with staff to see how we would want to put that together and put in like a weekly update once we...

I mean, it doesn't even have to be weekly, but I think it would just be good to show like we've updated this ordinance and then there's a cumulative net benefit.

So we can look at that. I just got to make sure I balance the staff time and hours of trying to get that information. I guess I'll defer to our public works director real quick.

YEAH, I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY THAT PART OF THE REASON THAT WE'RE MAKING SOME OF THESE CHANGES IS THAT WITH ALL THE CHANGES IN STATE LAW IT'S BECOMING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT FOR US TO EVEN IMPOSE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS ON DEVELOPERS AND IF THEY AREN'T INTO OUR CODE EXPLICITLY AS EXPLICIT OBJECTIVE STANDARDS THEN WE HAVE A HARD TIME NECESSARILY REQUIRING THOSE. SO A LOT OF THINGS THAT WE'RE PUTTING IN THERE ARE SIMPLY TO ALLOW US TO REQUIRE THE THINGS THAT WE previously had been typically requiring and making sure that there are objective standards in the code. So that's part of the reason that we're doing a lot of this.

Okay. Thank you. I'm done, Lisa.

Thank you. Councilmember Newsom, do you have a question?

Yeah, a couple questions. The first is, with the cleanouts, this will not change the requirement for sewer lateral inspection upon sales of homes and properties, right?

That's correct.

Okay, just want to make sure. Second? Undergrounding is so, you know, I heard it can be a half a block. Is there a minimum size for something to be considered a development? Meaning there's a proposal in my district for a one, one building, 20 unit building. Will that be considered a development or is that considered just a single building? And therefore, so where's the changeover point as to when something becomes a development?

For the underground requirement, this is only in the subdivision code. So this only applies to projects that fall under the final map requirements, which would be subdivision of five or more lots kind of development.

There's the answer. Five or more lots. OK. Thank you. I wasn't totally following what the ADU verbiage was about. So is the ADU verbiage saying that you're not required to remove the pad to where the garage used to be? Or is it saying that you can keep the pad if you want? Sorry, just...

Yeah, basically it allows them to keep the driveway apron if they want to or replace it. But under state law, we can't require an ADU project to do public improvements. So that's why we can't require them to replace in a normal case.

I like it. All right. And then the last thing is there's a large project in my district that doesn't currently have stormwater runoff drainage at all. So will they be required to have that as part of this ordinance?

This is only if they were to, say, redirect their flow into a different system. That's the only time I can imagine they would have an impact, because every project we require, they reduce the stormwater flow. But say, and I'll mention a project, a 1700 El Camino is redirecting their flow to a whole different system. That's a case where they may have an impact there, so we want them to mitigate it.

Yeah. Well, I don't know. Maybe this is a little off topic, but the Hillsdale Inn project, which is coming soon, the developers are actually concerned that there's no stormwater runoff on the street. So I guess the question would be, will they be responsible for implementing or installing that when the build happens?

It depends on how their design works out. For that project, they're working on how to accommodate it through the gutter flow to Caltrans right away. But the project like 616 South B, they were extending the storm drain main to be able to pick up their runoff through their C3 treatment. So it just depends on how the project designs it.

OK. Thank you. Appreciate all your answers. So Councilmember Newsom, just real quickly, just about the overall timing and what projects this will capture. Right now, it's any project after the second reading and 30 days after that when it becomes law. It's those projects that this will actually be, you know, attributed to. So any of our previous projects, we don't have the authority to, you know, to push these items. So you're looking at a couple months out.

CITY MANAGERS COMMENTS. WHERE YOU HAVE PROJECTS THAT WHERE YOU HAVE PROJECTS THAT ARE VESTED. ARE VESTED. THAT LOCKS IN THE OBJECTIVE THAT LOCKS IN THE OBJECTIVE STANDARDS THAT EXIST AT THE TIME OF STANDARDS THAT EXIST AT THE TIME OF VESTING FOR THOSE PROJECTS. VESTING FOR THOSE PROJECTS. THESE ORDINANCE CHANGES WILL NOT THESE ORDINANCE CHANGES WILL NOT APPLY TO VESTED DEVELOPMENT APPLY TO VESTED DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS.

Thank you, Councilmember Newsom. Any other questions? Councilmember Diaz-Nash.

Just quickly, I just wanted to say I think the undergrounding is wonderful, whether it is in the future or now. And just to clarify for the public, when you talk about frontage, it's all the way around the building. It's not just what's in the front, correct?

That's correct. The perimeter of the property.

Right, thank you. And then also I wanted to pay a compliment to folks within the public works group. I gave a neighborhood coffee this weekend, and a woman came up to me and said, I have a sewer lateral. And historically, it's been so difficult. And I had a problem. The staff came out. They were fantastic. It was on the weekend. They followed up with me on Monday. So you get a lot of bricks, but I thought maybe a few compliments would be nice as well.

so congratulations she's on virginia in baywood whoever that was thank you thank you i appreciate all the questions and comments from my colleagues uh i do not have anything to add and i would at this time uh entertain a motion to approve i motion i'll second Thank you, we have a motion and a second. City Clerk, can you please call a roll call vote?

Certainly. Council Member Spierko-Kadetsky? Yes. Council Member Newsom? Yes. Council Member Diaz-Nash? Yes. Deputy Mayor Fernandez? Yes. And Mayor LaRaine? Yes. The motion carries 5-0.

Thank you for this presentation. That concludes this item. And we will now advance to reports, announcements, and committee updates. AND I'LL JUST LOOK AROUND AND SEE IF ANY COUNCIL MEMBERS. LOOKS LIKE THERE'S DEFINITELY ONE. IT'S PENDING. ALL RIGHT. WELL, WHY DON'T WE START WITH COUNCIL MEMBER NEWSOM. THANK YOU, THROUGH THE MAYOR.

OKAY. COUPLE OF THINGS I'VE ATTENDED SEVERAL MEETINGS SINCE WE LAST MET. THE TWO BIG THINGS I WANT TO CALL ATTENTION TO ARE THE AIRPORT ROUND TABLE. AIRPORT ROUND TABLE IS IN THE position of trying to adopt some new standards to help reduce noise within our corridor. San Mateo is minorly affected compared to many of the cities on the peninsula and San Mateo County specifically, but We didn't have enough people present to vote this last meeting. And so hopefully we will the next one. But the plan looks great. And so it's very exciting. And they're working with the airlines and trying to give them some incentives to buy into this noise reduction program. The second thing was that the Office of Emergency Services met, and the one takeaway that I think is exciting for us, the City of San Mateo, and more specifically our Consolidated Fire Department, San Mateo, Foster City, and Belmont, we support the HAZMAT program for the entire county. And something that came to my attention about two and a half years ago was that there was no mechanism in place to replace the hazmat truck. The hazmat truck is coming up on its 20 years of use, and the lifespan of these trucks is 20 years. So we've actually worked with all of the cities and towns in the county and put a trust in place, which will actually be able to fund the replacement truck in about eight years. But it's a big win in the sense that it's keeping our community safe and going to have the equipment that we need. There's also obviously, I mean, I think you all know this, but there's been a huge uptick on what we have in hazmat calls because both electric vehicles and more commonly electric batteries for things like tools and scooters and e-bikes, If you buy those as off-market batteries, they have a much higher rate of failure and causing fires. And anytime one of these lithium ion batteries catches fire, it is a hazmat response. Anytime a electric vehicle catches on fire and battery gets caught on fire, it is also a hazmat response. So the number of... And now I'm kind of rolling into my next thing, which is on the consolidated fire, the number of... HAZMAT calls in this past year is more than 50% above what it was the previous two years, each year categorically. So we are on, unfortunately, a huge uptick in the number of HAZMAT responses. But we are working on it, and we're also working to publicly campaign to people to make sure they recognize that you should not buy the cheap and inferior off-market batteries. And then the last thing I wanted to do was just thank everyone, especially our park and rec and our pal and our police department for a fantastic summer concert series. I think I only missed one this summer, but we had a lot of fun getting out there. It was just a great event and a great events, plural. And I thank everyone for all that. And I also had the pleasure of attending the PAL Bark in the Park event yesterday, which was a lot of fun and I think did a really good job of raising funds for PAL and also just people love getting out with their dogs. So great event, community event. And even though there will be one more meeting before this, I do want you to all make sure you mark your calendars. The Consolidated Fire Chili Cook-Off this year, which is a fundraiser for muscular dystrophy, is September 15th. SO PLEASE LOCK THAT IN AND LOOK SO PLEASE LOCK THAT IN AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF YOU AND FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF YOU AND IF YOU GUYS ARE INTERESTED IN IF YOU GUYS ARE INTERESTED IN BEING JUDGES, THEY ALWAYS NEED BEING JUDGES, THEY ALWAYS NEED JUDGES. JUDGES. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, COUNCIL THANK YOU VERY MUCH, COUNCIL

Yes. First, I thank my colleagues. I missed the last council meeting and I was grateful that my colleague Lisa Diaz Nash brought up the issue of an urgency ordinance for data centers. SO I JUST WANTED TO ADD TO THAT. SO I JUST WANTED TO ADD TO THAT. I UNDERSTAND THAT RESEARCH NEEDS I UNDERSTAND THAT RESEARCH NEEDS TO BE DONE AROUND THAT TOPIC, TO BE DONE AROUND THAT TOPIC, BUT I DO PLAN TO BRING THAT BACK BUT I DO PLAN TO BRING THAT BACK AS A BLUE SKY BECAUSE I THINK WE AS A BLUE SKY BECAUSE I THINK WE SHOULD JUST PRIORITIZE NOT SHOULD JUST PRIORITIZE NOT HAVING DATA CENTERS IN THE CITY HAVING DATA CENTERS IN THE CITY OF SAN MATEO. OF SAN MATEO. SECOND, COUNCILMEMBER DIEZ NASH SECOND, COUNCILMEMBER DIEZ NASH AND I MET WITH THE CITY AND I MET WITH THE CITY CLERK TO TALK AND WE ARE ACTUALLY CONSIDERING AND IN THE EARLY STAGES OF WE ARE ACTUALLY CONSIDERING AND IN THE EARLY STAGES OF PLANNING AN EVENT FOR VETERANS PLANNING AN EVENT FOR VETERANS DAY AS YOU KNOW THE 101ST WAS DAY AS YOU KNOW THE 101ST WAS DISPATCHED TO THE BORDER VERY DISPATCHED TO THE BORDER VERY NEAR US. NEAR US. AND SO I JUST WANTED TO ASK THE AND SO I JUST WANTED TO ASK THE CITY CLERK THAT PERHAPS IF CITY CLERK THAT PERHAPS IF NEEDED YOU COULD RETURN TO THE NEEDED YOU COULD RETURN TO THE COUNCIL SHOULD ANY ADDITIONAL COUNCIL SHOULD ANY ADDITIONAL FUNDING BE REQUIRED TO FUNDING BE REQUIRED TO SUPPORT THE E Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Deputy Mayor Fernandez.

I will be quick. I want to also echo, wanted to thank the PAL for a really great park in the park, Central Park, whatever we're calling it this year. There was a really fun event yesterday, and Parks and Rec and everybody who was involved in that. I also just want to make sure that I call out that in our series of MLK community workshops, we're going to be having our third one on August 27th. Additionally, so I hope that you can show up at the MLK Center from 7 to 8.30 on Thursday, August 27th to get your input in as well. There will also be a version via Zoom on September 1st from 6 to 7.30 for the preferred concept and visioning sessions. Free childcare and refreshments will be provided. Beyond that, I wanted to just call out, because I think a few of us were there, but on Saturday, Senator Becker and Assemblywoman Pappin had a immigrant rights town hall in the city at the event center, and a couple of us were there. And so it was really informative, and I really appreciated the fact that they brought us together to really talk about what we can do to step up to help immigrants and empower folks of all documented or undocumented statuses to to protect themselves. Additionally, I just wanted to ask, last council meeting I had asked about a potential item that we may move forward on if I had the support about trying to stop, ensure that city property could not be used for ice. And I was wondering if you could give an update on that. The staff might have any sort of update on what the next steps would be on moving forward on that.

So on this item, I know that the city attorney went ahead and sent a memo, just update of what this would entail overall. If the council has a desire to move forward, I'd need to see a minimum of three nodding heads. But we'd also have to look at just the staffing resources and the timing of when we can bring this forward. But happy to get direction from the council. Or you can wait until the blue sky if you want. It's up to you guys.

I support it.

Yes, I do support this.

Okay. I have five nodding heads here, so I got direction, and we'll bring an item in the next couple of months.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you, colleagues. Also, I just want to point out that the chili cook-off falls on Councilmember Diaz-Nasher's birthday, so make sure she's a judge. Thank you.

I would like to point out that I am a judge this year. Thank you.

Ooh!

So I guess that means I get a chili birthday cake, right? Chili cake. Ooh.

YES, PLEASE GO AHEAD, COUNCILMEMBER. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

JUST A SHOUT OUT, MUSIC IN THE PARK IS DONE, BUT MOVIES IN THE PARK IS ONGOING. SO FRIDAY NIGHTS AROUND THE CITY, FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITIES. AND THE LAST ONE IS THE wicked for good, so I'm sure that will be a sellout at Beresford. Number two, I wanted to congratulate our downtown San Mateo Association. They just finished the fiscal year reporting, and they were ahead of budget on revenue, largely because there were so many new businesses coming into San Mateo. and an increase in sponsorships. So I think that really reinforces the fact that they've got a good strategy going, great partnership with the city, and we want to see a lot more from them coming up. And then finally, I would like to point everybody's attention to the Daily Journal today. There was, I guess, an interview, op-ed, I don't know what you call it, by Giselle, one of our young writers in the journal, about the San Mateo Age-Friendly Coalition. and the importance of what it is for our city, what a great job they're doing, what a great partnership they have with the city and other groups, and the fact that even though it is focused on seniors, it really is helping everyone in terms of how sidewalks work, in terms of how community works together, And really, given the fact that seniors are our fastest growing segment, we really need to pay attention to this coalition, what they're doing. And I would encourage all businesses who are not verified as age-friendly businesses to contact the coalition because it will bring you new business, new customers, because they look out for where to go. So congratulations to the coalition, to Vince Simonides, and to all of the members who support it. Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Well, quite a bit to announce from my colleagues. I think the first thing that comes to mind that I'd like to add would be that on the same day and at around the same time as the Immigration Forum in the San Mateo County Events Center, we also had the 2026 USA Asian Culture and Food Expo. FOR TWO DAYS IN THE EVENT CENTER AND I APPRECIATED THE DEPUTY MAYOR'S TEAMWORK TO ENSURE THAT THERE WAS A BIT OF COUNCIL REPRESENTATION AT BOTH OF THESE EVENTS. I WAS IMPRESSED BY THE NUMBER OF VENDORS AND BUSINESSES THAT HAD SPECIFICALLY COME TO SAN MATEO TO THE COUNTY EVENT CENTER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS EVENT AND SHOW THEIR PRODUCTS AND I HAD HEARD FROM the CEO of the event that at least three businesses have decided to open brick and mortar businesses in San Mateo after having gone to one of these events. We now have three. This is the third one. So, um, that was impressive and it was good to be there for a moment. Um, I also attended a Westlight Energy, the first Westlight Energy board of directors meeting ever. Wow. What a historical moment. And it didn't have as many hard-hitting items necessarily. There was an approval of an agreement to extend the term of the current CEO, Sean Marshall, for three years. with a bit of a pay bump, but actually one of the lower pay bumps you would expect. It was effectively in line with a standard sort of cost of living adjustment that is going to other employees in this not-for-profit, which is, I think, commendable for an organization that is, I think, first of all, not-for-profit and meant to serve ratepayers here in our county, including ourselves, but also one that is hoping to provide as much as it can to programs that service our repairs and may see similar choppy economic waters as we are in other organizations. I appreciate that. There's also a new award, an annual award that West Light Energy is going to be just presenting sort of internally called the Dave Pine Community Energy Award. And it's to honor Supervisor Dave Pine, former supervisor who was a big part of making what was called Peninsula Clean Energy possible in now West Light. And the first award winner of this called Promotoras, and maybe many are familiar. You know, this organization as well as others reach out to various groups, some of whom I think believe were at the immigration forum at the event center. So El Concilio comes to mind, and there are others who engage speakers of many different languages in our community to make sure that Everyone in our county is familiar with what Westlight Energy can provide, particularly with regard to programs, including low-income assistance with electrification of appliances and more. So cheers to the promotores. I'll just see if there was anything else I wanted to mention. COUNCILMEMBER NEWSOM MAY HAVE SOMETHING ELSE HE WOULD LIKE TO SOMETHING ELSE HE WOULD LIKE TO MENTION. MENTION.

I APOLOGIZE, MR. MAYOR. I APOLOGIZE, MR. MAYOR. I HAD ONE THING I NEGLECTED TO I HAD ONE THING I NEGLECTED TO BRING UP. BRING UP. ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO SAN ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO SAN MATEO CONSOLIDATED FIRE RESPONDED MATEO CONSOLIDATED FIRE RESPONDED TO A VERY LARGE UNIT FIRE IN TO A VERY LARGE UNIT FIRE IN FOSTER CITY. FOSTER CITY. THE SEA SPRAY LANE STRUCTURE THE SEA SPRAY LANE STRUCTURE FIRE DISPLACED OVER 50 UNITS FIRE DISPLACED OVER 50 UNITS Our consolidated fire were the team that worked so hard to put it out. They fought that fire for over 22 hours. We will be looking at it as a board to see what, if anything, could be done to try to mitigate these types of situations and have an awareness of what buildings have similar concerns in San Mateo, Foster City, and Belmont so that Hopefully we can be proactive and not have such a devastating fire again in the future. There's also a now consolidated web page link on Foster City's website that points you to all the ways that you can help. Samaritan House, the Jewish Peninsula. COMMUNITY CENTER AND RED CROSS HAVE ALL BEEN DOING TREMENDOUS HAVE ALL BEEN DOING TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF WORK TO SUPPORT THE AMOUNT OF WORK TO SUPPORT THE RESIDENTS AND SO I JUST RESIDENTS AND SO I JUST ENCOURAGE THE PUBLIC THAT IF THEY ENCOURAGE THE PUBLIC THAT IF THEY CAN TO REACH OUT TO THESE CAN TO REACH OUT TO THESE ORGANIZATIONS YOU CAN FIND IT ON ORGANIZATIONS YOU CAN FIND IT ON THE FOSTER CITY WEB PAGE AND ALL THE THE FOSTER CITY WEB PAGE AND ALL THE RESOURCES ARE NOW CONSOLIDATED IN RESOURCES ARE NOW CONSOLIDATED IN ONE PLACE. CONSOLIDATED FIRE. FAR AND AWAY ONE OF THE BIGGEST FAR AND AWAY ONE OF THE BIGGEST LOCAL RESPONSES WE'VE HAD TO LOCAL RESPONSES WE'VE HAD TO DO IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY IN DO IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY IN QUITE SOME TIME. QUITE SOME TIME. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ADDING THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ADDING THAT.

I apologize. I know it's been a long night. Just a reminder, obviously we all know that it is an election year, but if you are a candidate or running a measure, can you just make sure that you check in with our city clerk about sign placements and when you can put signs out? We all want a fair and awesome election, but let's just make sure that we're placing our signs in a productive way that complies with our temporary sign ordinances. And Martin is your point person for that. Thank you.

Thank you. I see the city manager has his light on.

Oh, just really quickly, I wanted to put a plug in. I appreciate Deputy Mayor Fernandez's comments just about the MLK, the Martin Luther King Center project and pool. And so we also have an online survey that is active right now in three different languages. And so if you can visit cityofsanmateo.org forward slash MLK project, it is live now through August 27th. And so you'll see us blasting that out and communicating that across the city, looking for feedback and input. Now's the time. Thank you. EXCELLENT. THANK YOU FOR THAT.

AND IF THERE ARE NO ADDITIONAL REPORTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND COMMITTEE UPDATES, THEN I WOULD LIKE TO ADJOURN IN HONOR OF SOMEBODY TONIGHT. IN MEMORY OF DR. SUSUMU Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist and neuroscientist who passed away on July 11, 2026, at the age of 86. Born in Nagoya, Japan, Dr. Tonegawa came to the United States to pursue his scientific career earning his doctorate from the University of California, San Diego. His groundbreaking discovery of how the body generates millions of different antibodies from a limited number of genes earned him the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, making him the first Japanese-born scientist to receive the award in that field. Later in his career, Dr. Tonegawa turned his attention to neuroscience, conducting pioneering research at MIT into how memories are formed, stored, and recalled. His work helped scientists identify the physical traces of individual memories in the brain and greatly advanced our understanding of memory. Dr. Tonegawa is survived by his wife, Mayumi, his children, Hide and Hana, and two grandchildren. He was pre-deceased by his son, Sato. In recognition of a lifetime of scientific discovery and his extraordinary contributions to our understanding of the human body and mind, The San Mateo City Council adjourns tonight's meeting in memory of Dr. Susumu Tonegawa. May we have a moment of silence, please. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.