Health, Housing & Human Services Committee - Regular Meeting

And call to order the successor agency to the redevelopment agency of the county of Monterey, letting the record show that all supervisors are present. Are there any additions or corrections from the clerk?

There are none.

Alright. There's one item on this consent schedule, which is to sorry. Actually, I'll start with public comments. Is there any general public comment? This is on the successor agency agenda. Saying no. We'll have another opportunity for public comment for the regular agenda, but this is just successor agency. Alright. Saying no. Okay. I do see hands raised online, and I'll just clarify again. This is public comment for the successor agency, not general public comment. Okay. Those hands went down. Thank you for clarifying.

Alright. We'll close public general public comment on the successor agency and bring it back to the board. There's one item in the consent calendar, and I did wanna just comment on this item. This is a contract with Gensler to develop a historic arts district master plan out at East Garrison. And the key component of the of the of the the scope is to consider some early decision points after the initial analysis where the agency could stop the process of finding show insufficient demand or infeasibility of the redevelopment of these 23 historic four door buildings intended for intended as the specific plan was originally written to become affordable arts, cultural, educational, and community spaces.

And I just want to make sure that we're planning robust and deep community engagement on this the scope of work to ensure that the community is is deeply involved in understanding the pathways and options forward. And any recommendation that comes back to us is is clearly inclusive of that community voice. So just wanted to clearly on record, and I'm gonna ask for support verbally from my colleagues on that point. So with direction on this item, which is the scope, to ensure that we have deep and broad community engagement in determining potential future pathways for the Historic Arts District at East Garrison.

I would support you in that. Okay.

Fine with that, but I'd prefer to hear like, what does that mean? Like, can we say minimum five community meetings with engagement with historic, you know, because it seems vague to me. I'd love to hear like some this is what the expectation is so we don't hear back and say that wasn't deep enough.

Yeah. If you could use the mic, Chris, so we can make sure everyone hears you.

So just a question on specifics, Because the definition of deeply in these instances, I mean, I'm thinking to the BHSA plan, right? Last night, I had to ask for an we did not have a South County session on that, and so we asked for when we finally had it last night. And so just how we define that, I think, is important. And if a little more substance, are we talking about a number of community meetings, are there certain partners you wanna make sure are engaged? That would be helpful to me to say if that's the direction. I just don't want it to be left. They come back and say, well, didn't get where we wanna go back again.

Yeah. And I'll just say I'm not looking for boxes to be checked. I'm looking for what would be considered deep community engagement so the community understands what process is, understands what the opportunities are, and, their voice is included in what comes back. So And

I I would just, for the record, to the extent that that changes the scope of the contract that's before this board, I would recommend that the contract come back at a future date to incorporate with that incorporated language if that is the will of the board. Because right now, that is not in the scope of work that this board is approving.

Would it be possible to just ask housing and community development since this is a master plan if they were I mean, just to clarify that there was no community engagement in the development of a historic arts district master plan because that would be odd.

Melanie, I think we have Melanie's hand up too, so we'll go to Melanie. Yeah,

thank you chair and board. This is a very good discussion. What I wanted to emphasize is that the scope of work that is before you does include a fairly robust community outreach strategy, including the establishment of a kind of a community and stakeholder group to advise as well as direct community touchpoint meetings. And we were purposeful in putting a fairly robust outreach plan. We also the contract includes the development of an engagement plan, which which will outline what that looks like.

So what I would say is that what's being requested is heard and I believe is encompassed within the existing scope of work. And we will be thoughtful with the consultant team to make sure that in particular, if there's around the decision point in particular, to make sure that we front load some of that outreach and community input in advance of any potential policy or other decision points that would be made.

Thank you, Melanie. And I think that that's what I'm looking for is that verbal direction, that clear intention of this board that we're including the stakeholders in these processes in ways that are meaningful and not just checking boxes. And I'll just say for my colleagues to understand, the community of East Garrison bought into a vision, and that vision has been dramatically changed over time with a with a lack of meaningful what I would call meaningful and deep engagement. And so the the I want to be very clear that we're not just checking boxes and having the clear direction verbal affirmation from this board that that's the expectation would be very helpful as we move forward. So that's my intention here.

And just to chime in there, I'm very clear over the years. I'm very supportive of any kind of community engagement for anything. So, yes, I believe that we have to have meaningful engagement on this just like anything else.

Great. Thank you.

Because of what you just stated, and it's why I jumped in and said I support you. Because of that history, I am offering, again, my verbal acknowledgment that meaningful and robust engagement on this is very important.

Okay. So I'm happy to have the the item approved as it's written. I just wanted to be, like, abundantly clear about that expectation. So with that, we can I'll be happy to consider a motion. Okay. We have a motion and a second. I'm just gonna ask staff Melanie and the CAO, the additional guidance is clear.

Just an added note, we also have to correct the amount of this agreement on the title. So we're confirming with the department. It should list 896576 and there's an extra digit in there. So we'll just need we'll work with the department just to make sure it's clear.

Great. Thank you. And to clarify my earlier question. Yes. That's a yes. Okay.

Can we just make a motion to make that correction? Do I have the right number on here? Yep. I think so. It should be 896576. That'd be my motion to include that correct number.

Okay. So we all in favor? Aye. Aye. Alright. Thank you. This we're gonna adjourn the successor agency, reconvene the board of supervisors, let the record show that all supervisors are