City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome to the September 1st, 2026 closed session of the City Council of the City of Myrna Valley and affiliated legislative bodies. The City Council receives a separate stipend from the Community Services District Board of Directors if any CSD business is conducted at the meeting. For assistance with virtual or phone participation during public comments, please see the teleconferencing and public participation notice that is posted on our city website and made available to you at the back table here in the council chamber. I now call this meeting to order on September 1st, 2026 at 4 1 p.m. Madam Clerk, roll call, please.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Council Member Bernard? Here. Council Member Delgado?

Here, ma'am.

Council Member Baca-Santa Cruz? Running a little late. Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez? Here. And Mayor Cabrera is absent.

Pursuant to the Brown Act, public comments shall be limited to items on the closed session agenda. There's a three-minute time limit per person. Please complete and submit a blue speaker slip to the city clerk. All remarks and questions shall be addressed to the presiding officer or to the city council. We will now be taking public comments in the order they are received, irrespective of the platform used, whether in person, by phone, or virtual. Patty, are there any requests to speak?

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. No, we do not have any requests to speak.

Thank you. City Attorney, what matters will the Council be discussing in closed session today?

Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, the council has two items to discuss in closed session. The first one is D1, conference of legal labor negotiator regarding an unrepresented employee, which happens to include me. This is pursuant to government code section 54957.6a. Your city representative is your city manager, Brian Mohan. The unrepresented employee is Stephen B. Quintanilla. Because this item is on the agenda, the Brown Act prohibits me from participating in closed session on this item. So you won't see me in there for this item. Item D2 is conference of legal counsel regarding potential initiation of litigation. It's pursuant to government code section 54956.94. It involves one potential case. The Brown Act requires that for potential initiation of litigation items that we explain for the record why there's potential initiation of litigation. Well, actually, no, this is potential initiation litigation, not exposure. I'm sorry. So there's no further announcement on that. However, this item, I am prohibited from advising the council on this item since I had appeared at a prior hearing regarding this matter. So I'll just leave it at that. So those are the two items that will be discussed in closed session. But I will, your assistant city prosecutor will be in closed session on item D2. Thank you, Stephen.

And with that... You mean assistant city attorney, not prosecutor, right?

No, Lisa is your designated assistant city prosecutor.

Thank you, Stephen. And with that, we'll go into closed session at 4.04. Thank you. Good afternoon, and we will be closing out on closed session. Is there any reportable action by the city attorney?

Mayor Potem, as the city attorney was conflicted on both items, I will go ahead and report out, and there is no reportable action. Thank you.

Thank you, and that concludes our closed session. Good evening and welcome to the special recognitions presentations of the City Council of the City of Minerva Valley. September 1st, 530 p.m. And I will be doing the first special presentation. We begin by recognizing residents who take pride in their homes and neighborhoods. Maintaining a home takes time, care, and consistency. That work makes a difference throughout our community. The Beautify MoVal at Homes Awards program is a quarterly recognition. One home is selected from each council district. One of the four is then named the citywide award recipient. Tonight, we are proud to recognize the program's second group of residents. Standing behind me are the recipients and their families. Each recipient has received a city certificate and is holding a lawn sign to mark this achievement. may soon see these signs displayed throughout myrna valley if you know a home that stands out encourage the resident to apply during the future award cycle more information is available on the city's beautify mobile at home webpage as photos of their homes appear on the screens we proudly recognize district one Richard Sanchez and family, also selected as this quarter's Citywide Award recipient. District two, Juana Grifaldo and family. District three, Jessica Ponce and family. District 4, Tasha Hilliard, and family. On behalf of the City Council, congratulations. Thank you for the care and priority you show in your homes. Your work helps keep Myrtle Valley beautiful. And now let's take a group photo.

There you go. And we'll take one in one, two, three. I'll do one more for you. And one, two, three.

Thank you and congratulations again. You may now return to your seats. Next, Councilmember Delgado from District 2 will recognize National Preparedness Month.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez. Good evening. And for our second and final presentation for this evening, we recognize National Preparedness Month observed each September to encourage families and communities to prepare before disaster strikes. I'd like to invite Diana Rockett, Emergency Operations and Volunteer Services Division Manager and members of her team to please come forward. Come on up, guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Good job. Good job, sir. And these are some of our community support team volunteers joining us.

There's a volunteer of the year right here.

Yeah, that is.

I mean, you guys are all volunteers of the year. He gets paid. All right, emergencies can happen at any time. Preparedness begins with three easy steps. Build an emergency kit, make a family plan, and stay informed. Residents can sign up for Alert MoVal, the City's emergency notification system. Emergency preparedness information is also available on the City's website at moval.org backslash alert and at ready.gov. These steps can protect lives and help our community respond and recover more effectively. Therefore, on behalf of the City of Moreno Valley and the City Council, I proudly proclaim September 2026 as National Preparedness Month and encourage all residents to prepare now to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their community. So now I'm going to ask Diana if she'd like to say a few words about National Preparedness Month.

Yes. Thank you, Councilmember. And thank you, Mayor, Councilmembers, and city leaders. It is always a pleasure to be in front of you and reminding you that preparedness starts with you, right? You've heard me say before, there are more of you than there are of us. We do our very best, but we're relying on you to help yourself and your families, your pets, before we can get to you. With all of the things going on right now, we've got a potential tropical storm coming in. If you are flood prone and you flood, make sure you're taking those measures now. Don't wait till the rain is falling. We live in earthquake countries, right? So please take steps to prepare yourself and your family. And remember before, during, and after, moval.org slash alert. Thank you.

very well said ma'am thank you we appreciate the continued service of the entire emergency operations and volunteer services team and your work to keep merino valley informed and prepared so thank you diana i now invite my city council colleagues up for a group photo and where you guys are let's take a picture you guys

Are you going to hold it? Oh, yeah.

No, somebody's going to have to get on the steps. Come on, y'all.

Yeah. Actually, I'm going to take a step back on the next one. You have to step back.

Perfect. All right. All right.

All right. And take a shot in one, two, three. Get one more for safety. And one, two, three.

All right, that was pretty quick. So that concludes tonight's special presentations. We will reconvene at 6 PM for the regular city council meeting. Thank you.

Wordly test.

good evening and welcome to our joint meeting of the city council of the city of myrna valley since senate bill 707 became effective on july 1st 2026 we are pleased to offer expanded public access to our meetings this means the public may participate in person by phone or virtual city council receives a separate stipend from the community services district if any csd business conducted at the meeting For assistance with virtual or phone participation during public comment, please see the teleconferencing and public participation notice that is posted on our city website and made available to you at the back table here in the council chamber. I now call this meeting to order on September 1st, 2026 at 6.01 PM. I invite Council Member Delgado to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and I ask that you remain standing for the invocation given by Pastor Michael Kell from Liberty Church.

Please stand if you're able, placing your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

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

Pastor Michael Kell from Liberty Church.

Almighty and gracious God, we gather today because you have given us another day. You have given us another opportunity, another responsibility to serve and to lead. God, we thank you for Moreno Valley. We thank you for every neighborhood, every school, every community, every family, every individual who calls this city home. God, we pray for those who are entrusted with leadership. Would you give them the wisdom to see clearly? God, would you give them the courage to act boldly and give them the integrity to stand firm? God, when decisions are difficult for them, would you give them discernment? When voices are divided, would you give them patience? God, when the path is unclear, would you give them direction? God, I pray that justice will be more than just a slogan. God, I pray this service will be more than a title. God, I pray that leadership will be more than just a position. Would you make us people who seek what is right, who defend what is good and who listen before we speak and we serve before we seek recognition. God, would you protect our first responders? God, would you strengthen our families, encourage our educators? Would you bless those who create jobs and opportunities in this city? God, would you draw near to the hurting, to the discouraged, to the forgotten? But above all, God, we thank you for Jesus Christ. We believe that we are sinners separated from you, that Jesus came for us, died on the cross for our sins, and you rose again in victory. Through him, forgiveness is offered, hope is restored, and eternal life is given to all who place their faith in him. So, Lord, as we begin this meeting, we lift our eyes beyond ourselves. God, in this room, give wisdom greater than our own. Give courage stronger than our fears. Give compassion that is deeper than our differences. Give us hearts that are willing to serve rather than simply be served. Lord, may the things that are decided tonight in this room strengthen this city. May what's spoken in this room honor truth. May what is done in this room serve our neighbors well. And may Moreno Valley be a city where families flourish, where the vulnerable are protected, where opportunity grows, where peace is pursued, where hope is never lost, and where people find liberty. God, would you guide us tonight? Would you guard us? Would you use us? And may everything we ultimately do point beyond ourselves to Jesus Christ. And it's in his mighty and matchless name that I pray. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor. Moving on to item D, land acknowledgement. We wish to acknowledge that we are on the unceded lands of the Cahuilla or Luiseno who are original inhabitants and now as a sovereign tribal nations have continued to live and thrive upon these lands since time immemorial. Item E, roll call. Madam Clerk, roll call please.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Council Member Bernard? Here. Council Member Delgado?

Here, ma'am.

Council Member Baca-Santa Cruz? Here. And Mayor Pro Temp-Gonzalez?

Here.

Thank you. Mayor Cabrera is absent today. He's unable to attend tonight's City Council meeting due to illness, and he also is not requesting to have his excused absence for this meeting. Thank you.

Okay. Moving on to staff introductions.

Patty Rodriguez, City Clerk.

Paul Bravica, Management Analyst.

Sonia Gomez, Senior Deputy City Clerk.

Steven Quintanilla, City Attorney. Brian Mohan, City Manager.

Lana Jimenez, Assistant City Manager, Administration.

Alicia London, Chief Financial Officer, City Treasurer.

Sean Kelleher, Assistant City Manager, Development.

Angelica Fraustolupo, Community Development Director. Natalie Potter, Human Resources Director.

Jeremy Bubnick, Director of Parks and Community Services. Melissa Walker, Director of Public Works. Kyle Horsinski, Economic Development Director. Jesse Park, Fire Chief.

Sarah Mack, Chief of Police.

Thank you. Moving to item H, approval of order of the agenda. Madam Clerk, voice vote, please.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. Council Member- Hold on, we need a motion. We gotta make a motion first. Is there a motion?

Sorry. Is there a motion to approve the order of the agenda? So moved.

I second that motion.

Madam Clerk, voice vote, please.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Bernard? Yes. Council Member Delgado? Yes. Council Member Baca-Santa Cruz? Yes. And Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez?

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay, motion passes. Moving on to item I, public comments on matters not on the agenda. The city now offers language translation services through a free app called Wordly. The app automatically translates a variety of languages into English and vice versa. To use this service, please scan the QR code at the speaker's sign-up table. For the visually impaired, please use your headphones or earbuds to listen to the verbal translation. If you do not have any such listening devices, please let the city clerk know you need to borrow one for the meeting. La ciudad ahora ofrece servicio de traducción de idiomas a través de una aplicación gratuita llamada Wordly. Si gustan usar este servicio, avísele a la secretaria y entregue una tarjeta para hablar. Para usar la traducción, escanee el código QR que está en la mesa junto a la puerta. Before we move on to the public comments, I want to remind everyone to direct their comments to the City Council. For comments on items on today's agenda, each speaker will have a total of three minutes to comment. Public comments on items not on today's agenda will be taken in the order they are received, irrespective of the platform used, whether in person, by phone, or virtual. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to comment on items not on the agenda?

Yes, we do. Mayor Pro Temp, the first three speakers are Jacob Mason, followed by Barry Tatlinger, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Good evening City Council. My name is Jacob and I am once again here to demand the termination of the Marina Valley's Flock Contracts. You have already heard my concerns last week, this community's concerns, and will surely hear many speakers after me about this exact issue. But why just take it from us? Let's hear some quotes from a wide array of people on this topic. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. No system of mass surveillance has existed in any society that we know of to this point that has not been abused. Whistleblower Edward Snowden. How about George Orwell? How would he view the future if this technology stays in place? Let's ask him. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever. Well, that's not a good look. But if we have nothing to hide, then what's the issue, right? Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say, Edward Snowden. Wow, harsh. But who cares about this whistleblower guy, right? I mean, it's not like the Supreme Court has shown concerns over this issue, right? Awareness that the government may be watching chills associational and expressive freedoms, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Well, who cares if only one justice has raised concerns on this, right? Society's expectations has been that law enforcement agents and others would not, and indeed in the main simply could not, secretly monitor and catalog every single movement of an individual's car for a very long period. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Okay, but who's trying to turn this into a partisan issue? Republican Senator Josh Hawley has launched an investigation into Flock and says Flock has assembled an unprecedented national surveillance network. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has said no one's been stronger on law enforcement than me, but I don't want to have this become a surveillance state. Democrat Senator Ron Wyden advocates, in my view, local elected officials can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of flock cameras by removing flock from their communities. Wyden's advice is exactly what the city council should follow. My last speech cited at least 50 cases of officers being arrested or accused of misusing ALPR data. Within less than two weeks, this number has now risen to 69 cases. But the cameras can provide some more safety, right? Well, personally, I would say that the data needs to be accurate to be considered safe. However, audits are revealing how inaccurate the data really can be. For example, the Roseville Police Department analyzed 1,427 flock alerts involving stolen vehicles or vehicles connected to felony investigations and found that 71% contained a misread license plate. At one point, Roseville Police found that 16 out of 17 plates flagged by the system in a single week were incorrect. This isn't just me or the people here at City Council with these concerns. We have founding fathers who base this country on these principles, we have whistleblowers and Supreme Court justices warning about this surveillance, elected officials from both parties are actively working to oppose Flock, and we have police departments themselves finding serious problems with the accuracy of this system. With all this evidence in front of us and our own mayor suing Flock, I must ask, why are you allowing this company to continue spying on us? Thank you.

Next three speakers are Barry Tantlinger, followed by Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Marsules Del Viento.

Good evening. I'd like to speak to you quickly about some things that were said at the Planning Commission meeting on August 13th. Did you hear these comments that a few of the commissioners said? They suggested that they should talk to the police to get them to stop giving tickets to parents at school drop-off. That's crazy, right? School drop-off already is like a Mad Max movie. Why would you want to make there be less enforcement? And it's pretty inappropriate for an elected official to suggest things like that, if I'm not mistaken. That's not really the purview of the planning commission to be concerned with traffic enforcement. And on top of that, it's a little shocking to hear people stress their own convenience over the safety of our most vulnerable members of our society, our children. If you go to any school drop-off or pickup, you'll see parents parked in fire lanes, double parked, parked in bike lanes, blocking crosswalks, pretty much putting their convenience above the safety of our children. And that's just wrong. And here are some numbers that you should be effective on before we put that convenience before our children's safety. Globally, traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death for children and young adults. 429 children are injured in traffic accidents every day in the US. In New York City, they have found that 57% of crashes There are 57% more crashes and 25% more injuries occur on streets near schools. A Toronto study found that driver behavior at 104 other schools is 88% worse than in other places. Two studies in Canada and Chile found the same thing, that the average distance between a child being injured in the road And a school is about 600 yards. The most dangerous place for a child is at school, in the streets, around their schools. To suggest that we should not give tickets to parents dropping their kids off is just insane. Schools are dangerous places. The last thing we need to do is to have public officials advocating to make them more so. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Esmael Gonzalez, followed by Marsules Del Viento, followed by Brandon Karn.

Hello and good evening. My name is Ismael Gonzalez. I reside in District 2. I want to begin like I did last city council meeting by inviting all the city council members, mayor, city staff, commissioners, if you're in the house, please, I'm willing to collaborate. I want to see Moreno Valley do great things and be the best city that we can be, especially considering that there's 200,000 people. We're the second biggest city in the county. I want to bring up a couple things to your attention with these opening comments. It was back in the early weeks of June where the planning commission directed staff to conduct a study session on data centers, car washes, storage facilities. I want to ask you, what's the status on that? It's been four months. There's nothing to be said or done about these imminent threats to our city. I was there at the Paris City Council meeting where they were actively already in process of prohibiting, maybe having a moratorium on data centers. Let's get on that, please. Palm Springs just had a moratorium. Coachella is the first city in Riverside County to prohibit data centers completely. We are falling behind other cities in this regard. I also want to talk about the Planning Commission, just like the previous speaker did. I have nothing against anyone in this room unless they are actively making the city worse. You are becoming a hindrance to making the city the best it can be, right? Within the last month, the Planning Commission has approved a gas station within 100 feet of... of three schools three elementary schools the previous speaker just said the areas next to schools are the most dangerous for traffic and and children what do you think is going to happen when you bring a gas station within 100 feet of three schools i do not believe that's in the best interest of moreno valley i also don't believe it's in the best interest to uh approve the penske facility that happened last planning commission that is going to be at the corner of old 215 frontage road and alessandro one of the most historic places in moreno valley that is the old neighborhood of alessandro goes back more than 100 years but now we're going to have a bright yellow truck refueling facility 220 feet away from the nearest resident. They are the most polluted area in Marina Valley. How does that make sense? Please reject these items. Do what's in your power to protect your community. Thank you so much. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Marsules Del Viento, followed by Brandon Karn, followed by Jill.

Greetings, city council, commissioners, and staff. Boy, is it hot out, right? So I'm here to inform you all that Med Valley is having a community meeting tomorrow at 6 PM to discuss new zoning that could add over 600 acres of industrial warehousing and thousands of additional truck trips. which will obviously increase traffic congestion. So that's happening tomorrow at the Med Valley Community Center at 6 p.m. The county supervisor of Riverside, Jose Medina, will be presenting a new zoning that is right next to residential areas and proposing that we put a truck route on Cajalco which obviously doesn't have the infrastructure to support that so I hope you can try to be there and stop this from happening because we already have the worst air quality in the nation, and it seems like we haven't learned our lesson. A lot of people are sick, kids are getting asthma, and it just seems like you guys don't care about our health with the amount of warehouses that are present here in Moreno Valley. So to touch on flock cameras, I think a lot of you know we are against those. They violate our Fourth Amendment right, I believe. And before, traffic lights used to require a judge subpoena to be able to access evidence. And now it's just loosely exposed. And it's easily hackable, might I add. And it's been used to stalk people. I'm against flock cameras. I hope we can get that contract terminated and remove all flock cameras in the area. What else? I just want to say no more warehouses. I want to know your guys' plans to offset the emissions that you've allowed into our community. I'm here to propose some ideas to greenify our spaces. For example, instead of... a big warehouse, can we get a big park the same size of that warehouse? I think we're all on board for that. Instead of a big warehouse, can we get a big museum for our community to enjoy? Instead of a big warehouse, can we get public resources and community centers and just places that we can all hang out, third spaces? That's truly what makes Moreno Valley beautiful is the people, not the warehouses, not the industrial facilities. And I just hope you all do better in deciding where our future will lead us. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Brandon Karn, followed by Jill, followed by Fred Banuelos. Go ahead, Brandon.

Hello. Hopefully you can hear me. Well, I'm back again about the city's unconstitutional disparagement provision and the art maintenance contract that you have. The one that says you cannot have criticism of the city at all Otherwise, you cannot participate in the city's public art program. The city attorney's office can come back for any money that you're given, etc. Totally in violation of the First Amendment. I just emailed the council again the email I got from the First Amendment Coalition citing the 1996 Supreme Court case that you cannot take away the rights of independent contractors for criticisms. So this needs to be addressed. This needs to be fixed. This is not an item that necessarily has to go before the Arts Commission. The council can direct this. This is a huge violation that needs to be corrected. And, you know, actually, I'm reading this document again the past week, and I'm going through a lot of other issues in it that I think need to be addressed that were greatly overlooked at the city attorney's office when this was written. One of the things is you cannot have the public art that you create displayed in a public setting. You can have it in a private portfolio, according to this document, but you can't display it on social media. You can't have it on a website. You can't show it in a big public venue. You can't even show it in an educational setting, which in most copyright situations is fair use. You can't display your work at a library, at a workshop, at a school, because the way it is so poorly written, it is explicitly forbidden in the agreement. If you have not read this contract, you should, because it has a lot of problems in it. I do think the copyright should go to the creative person, which is what most cities do. That is something the Arts Commission needs to do. I think it's absolutely laughable that you have this large immersive experience in art space going into the mall, which I think will be a financial failure because it's not going to have the foot traffic that you need like a major city does to sustain it. I don't think it ever should have been approved. I've been to Immersive Experiences. I've been to Lighthouses, Monet Experience. I've been to Arte Museum in Las Vegas. I've been to many of these. I'm not against those. I don't think this was well planned to be placed in the mall. But you look at these policies and you have creative, you need to bring creative people and muralist sculptures into Moreno Valley. They're going to go, why are our rights being violated? Why can't we criticize the city? If I bring a concern up working in the city, am I going to lose my project? Am I going to lose the money I was given to do a mural in the city? Sometimes thousands of dollars because the city doesn't seem safe. The city has issues with litter. The city has issues with policing. What's going to happen? Why are the staff so thin skinned? Why are city officials so thin skinned? You know, they don't need to come to Moreno Valley. You bring someone from L.A., they're going to go, why are we going to come here? The city looks unsafe. You need. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Jill, followed by Fred Bonuelos, followed by Jason A. Hi, guys.

Today I'm going to read you my statement, which is something I don't normally do, but I am angry, I am disappointed, I am saddened, and I am disheartened, and I really don't want to miss any of my points. Recently a planning commissioner suggested having a conversation with traffic enforcement to be a little more lenient with it. The it that she was referring to was writing tickets during school drop-off. She stated that the fines are a burden. Asking parking enforcement to look the other way during drop-off and pickup is a scary proposition. When else would you like them to ignore public safety? How about during the morning commute when the drivers are flying down the bike lane because traffic is backed up at the stoplights? How about when you've been sitting at a left turn light too long so you just go ahead and run it? What about when you don't feel like walking at a sporting event so you go ahead and park in the bike lane? Who gets to decide when it's okay to ignore a traffic law? And which laws are we going to have periods of leniency for? I'd also like to know if the non-enforcement times are going to be clearly posted or do I have to guess? This kind of thinking teaches our young people that laws are suggestions. Is it any wonder that they drive their emotos like the rules of the road don't pertain to them? Parents, you taught them this. They sit in the car and they watch. You don't stop at the stop sign. It's okay to park in a red zone if it's only for a minute. You won't get a ticket if you only do five miles an hour over the speed limit. Yellow means go very, very fast. And hold on, kids, I can make it. Our city and all of our officials need to get serious about public safety. I have spoken several times about bike safety, but realistically, no one is safe on the roads or sidewalks in this town. We need more traffic enforcement, not less, and we need public servants who understand this. If you can't demonstrate this, you need to be removed from your post. If we don't have enough officers for effective traffic enforcement, then maybe we need to look into installing red light cameras. There are proven traffic calming measures that could be implemented. We do a lot of talking here, but I'm not seeing much change. Oh, I got a whole minute left, yeah. Okay, Morrison is still a flipping nightmare, guys. I am so tired of getting cussed out when I ride my bike. Are we ever gonna get protected bike lanes on Mason by that high school? They've got parking on Eucalyptus. We've told them they can park in the bike lane between a certain time, but they choose to park on Mason in a no-stopping zone on a road where people are doing 50 and 55 miles an hour. These kids are gonna die, and I'm tired of our children being put at danger. It is not the kids' responsibility to make sure the streets are safe. It is our responsibility. And until we start getting serious about it, we will never be that great town that we want to be. Thank you so much.

The next three speakers are Fred Banuelos, followed by Jason A., followed by David Jight.

Hello, everyone. I love what the city of Santa Ana is doing, Santa Ana and their city in regards to vagrants. And the city of Orange is helping out with that. I'd hope you guys would do that in our city. Check it out. These weapon detectors that we have out here in City Hall. I love that City Hall has a good guy with a firearm to stop the threat. I'd want to see a good guy with a firearm out there. I don't know if you have a deputy out there. I'll go check after I get done here. When he started talking about this safety issue, San Bernardino was brought up. I want to remind you that that was an employee that murdered people. It wasn't the general public. You know the duration of a mass shooting always depends on the arrival of a second gun. Unless the shooter decides to take himself out. I'm for flock. I want them to have oversight and checks and balances. And then remember there's no expectation of privacy in public. I want to remind you that There was a young lady, Andrea Vasquez, from Downey. She was abducted in Whittier, and I believe flock cameras helped find her body in our city. I saw recently a post, the Riverside Sheriff's Department, they had good information on flock cameras. They allowed you to go there and ask questions to DM them. I would hope that we would have some type of... class or some information where we can ask questions. I believe, I think Palm Springs did it recently. There was a lot of departments that are doing that to say how good these tools are. Don't blame the tool. Blame the people that are abusing the databases. There's gotta be checks and balances. And I understand that the flock is now changing their procedures where they're not retaining information for 30 days. They're gonna only retain it for seven days. I believe that's gonna be happening soon. They're a great tool and we need to find a way to use it. People tap into databases. There's checks and balances. DMV has people that are checking into it. The insurance companies, the registration services, there's a way to control it, and I don't want to lose that tool for our city, especially when it helps find people. Thank you. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Jason A., followed by David Gite, followed by Mr. Russell Schaefer.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of the council and esteemed guests. My name is Jason Azenoff, and I'm representing the Hope Church Marino Valley. The reason I'm here is to address the very burdensome, costly, and unfair requirement to proceed with a conditional use permit to operate our church at 23080 Alessandro Boulevard, Suite 232. Prior to renting this facility, we verified that the zoning, which is VC Village Commercial, was approved to be used for a church. Just today, the planning department advised us that we must proceed with the CUP, Conditional Use Permit, in order to operate our church. So I did a little digging and Looked at the permitted use table again. Apparently I overlooked this footnote. Footnote zero or O indicates a use. So this is under VC. A use is permitted unless the location is 300 feet or less from a residential zone or use in which the case use is allowed. While I appreciate the fact that you're trying to protect residents, I believe this is misinterpreted for our use. With our door closed, I can almost guarantee you that the decibel reading at the closest residence will be equivalent or less than a vehicle passing by. Let's see, furthermore, I think this requirement should be waived in our circumstance for a church, and I would appreciate a follow-up. to myself or Pastor David who will be speaking next. So thank you for your time and God bless. Let's make this city great. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Jason. And planning staff will reach out to you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and other honorable council members. My name is David Jitte, pastor of Hope Church. Recently we have leased a property on the location Jason just talked about and in order to abide by the law, comply by the law. We did apply for a business license. At the point of approval, today I almost spent the entire day here. At the point of approval, we were informed that we had to go get a conditional use permit that would cost us about $7,000. plus applicable notice and posting fees, which means that apart from the initial $7,000 thereabouts, we might be required to pay other fees and charges just to get things working out here. Hope Church is just a small little church with about 20 struggling members. If you do not waive that fee and you insist on us paying that amount, You will not only stifle us, we will be completely wiped out of existence. We don't have the funding and Hope Church has been active in supporting our community. We've been supporting La Jolla Elementary School in the past two years on their back to school event with backpacks and other school items. We've held Christmas toy drives for them, just helping. the kids are needing our society just to bring a smile on their face during this moment so when you take us out we might not be able to do this we are not fighting with the city we are not quarreling with the city we're just pleading that you look at us as a non-profit organization and kindly either grant us a waiver or bring the amount to something we can afford. That's our plea for tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. David. Planning staff will be sitting down with you to discuss that.

The next three speakers are Russell Schaffer, followed by Mr. Christopher Baca, followed by Emmanuel Topetti.

city council all right law under 18 usc 1725 often referenced alongside usps domestic mail manual section 50.3.1.3 of the domestic mail manual federal statute 18 usc 1725 male restrictions mailbox restrictions, mailbox restrictions, postal restrictions, USPS, DMM section 508.31.1.3. Penalties and fines up to $5,000 for individuals and up to $10,000 for organizations for political campaigns. Per violation, the rule mailboxes are designated exclusively for postage paid US mail handled by authorized USPS carriers. Sticking, hanging, or placing unstamped items on or inside a mailbox is illegal. Illegal. There was a post on Liza Arellano's social media page. Ms. Lindsay Robinson replied by telling Arellano, your flyer was illegal, placed in a mailbox, not mailed. Robinson also replied, if you're willing to break a simple law like that, what others will you break? Arellano replied, I have not put any in mailboxes. But I do have friends and family. You should have already known the law and told your team do not stick them in the mailboxes. Don't play the blame game and take your own accountability for your own actions. You lack experience. And also stop trying to email people and erase them because it's not going to work. You ever hear of Snapshot? Just because you're going to try to take all the accountability, you know what I'm talking about. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Christopher Baca, followed by Manuel Topetti, followed by Carolyn Brodeur.

Good evening, council, community and staff. I'm here on behalf of myself as a private citizen and speaking as a resident of the city of Moreno Valley. I just wanted to let the community know that if they're interested in looking into the doings of the political campaigns that are going on in our city, they can go to the city website under the city. city staff, administration, city clerk, the pull downs, and you'll see elections, election forms, election, so forth and so on. You can click onto some of the forms that are required to be submitted. I saw a couple of them that kind of raised a little red flag for me and it doesn't indicate no support or no support, particularly Ms. Shelinda Bernard, Not saying that I don't support you. You know I support you. But the purpose is that when I see these kind of things, it's kind of strange to me that candidates raise money for their campaign and people donate to their campaign, such as so-and-so for city council. But in turn, they write a check out to another candidate. In this instance, it was for Mark Takano. Why does that campaign... write a check for another candidate if the donation was for that candidate. It doesn't make sense to me. It's probably in the gray area, but I think it's wrong. On another note, we got another candidate for mayor, Jaime Hurtado. He has all these fancy executive team in these fancy high rise buildings in downtown LA. that you know and so forth and so on that have obviously been paid for if they haven't been paid for they're probably been paid for by proxy by you know whoever's running his campaign such as edo benzivi highland fairview and all his llcs and all his cronies you know that are committing this big old web of you know confusion so these all these people have been paid thousands of dollars but yet hyman hurtado has not filed any paperwork anything over a certain amount needs to be uh submitted within 48 hours if it's a certain amount or within so you know form the committee or whatever the case is that hasn't happened so i just asked you to know who you're voting for and who's behind them and why they're running in this instance jaime hurtado you know bootlicker Ido Benzivi, Highland Fairview. You know, those things are about to come up in the next couple of months as far as these bogus projects that this developer wants the city to pay for. And we got these coinciding staff willing to bend over backwards and do whatever this developer wants on the taxpayers money.

The next three speakers are Manuel Topetti, followed by Carolyn Brodeur, followed by Mr. George Haig.

Good evening. My name is Manuel Topetti, and I've been here a couple of times. Today I'm going to talk about some of the things that I discussed in the planning commission. They should have been brought here. First question I got is to myself. Do I really believe that the mayor is sick? No. I got a lot of questions for him. A lot of questions for him, and I don't think he's sick. But we're going to start with Brady versus the city of Moreno Valley. And that's, I'm going to go ahead and hopefully I can stretch this really quick. I don't got no paperwork, this is from my heart. Brady versus the city of Moreno Valley was a lawsuit that $1.2 million was paid out to two code enforcement officers that were asked to harass Edgemont property owners, business owners, and people that just live there to reduce the property values so that Highland Fairview could build a big shopping center. Well, guess what? The city paid 1.2. Why didn't Highland Fairview pay for that? I'm an Edgemont. I was gonna bring a calculator that I could just give to the city manager. and the city attorney and the financial advisors, because we need to figure out either through a class action lawsuit to the city or to Highland Fairview for the loss in revenue, the loss in property values that we have suffered in D1, Elena Baca's district. Now, Elena Baca didn't even win legally. Let's get that fact. We didn't lose by 37 votes, okay? Alyssa Lopez won, but you guys cheated. And that's a whole other thing. Sheriff Bronco's taking care of that right now with all them ballots in his closet. But here's the deal. We need to be refunded our money that we've lost. I've been in business 36 years. I've got 23 code enforcement violations from the last 20 years. And I do everything right, man. My stuff is perfect. 36 years in business. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. If any of you guys got a business longer than 36, I'll take your advice. But my property lost over a million dollars in value. The day I held the event to meet Alyssa Lopez, and I bring this up because it's election time. You know who the first person was? Code enforcement. Told me to move my RV, which I was washing. Made my neighbors take down their tarp, which because of COVID, we had the tarps. Made my neighbors take down their flags. What kind of beep is that? My daughter told me not to cuss. But, you know, I love my city. I want the best for the city, but I want the best for District 1 because that's where my business has resided for 36 years. I want the city manager, city attorney, financial, and then I want a promise by the police chief that we are protected because after the meeting that I came up here, I was home invaded. No suspects, okay? They were there to kill me. No masks. They can't find them. We need to be giving back our money that we lost.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Carolyn Brodeur, followed by Mr. George Hague, followed by Bob Palomares.

Hey, good evening. I live on Locust Avenue in Northeast Reno Valley. and um on my way home the other day i saw that there is this digital sign saying that there's going to be a delay there will be delays um on marinal beach drive north of highway freeway you know the interstate 60 and um but there's no other information about it uh like i would like to know do i need to get off on Redlands Boulevard starting September 8th? Because are they going to close everything off on Reno Beach Drive from Ironwood to Locust? Is it all going to be closed? Are they going to let residents through? Why didn't we get any information about this? And what's going on? I know I read Lindsay Robinson's post on Northeast Spring Valley Matters. We're all like, what's going on in our neighborhood? Are they going to be building like a Section 8 apartments in our neighborhood? Because I've been to Section 8 apartments in the city while rescuing some kitties. And I don't want that in my neighborhood. There were prostitutes hanging out. There were people smoking something. It wasn't weed because you could smell weed a mile away. I didn't have concerts as a teenager. You could smell that. It wasn't regular cigarettes. It was some kind of drugs. There was graffiti all over the place. And there was this guy walking around with a liquor bottle in his hand. And I told my sister, shut the door. Lock the doors. Praying to God and nobody attacking me or something. But is that what they're going to put? in our neighborhood? Is that what's coming? We don't know. There's really no transparency of what's going on. But I did ask one of the utility guys that they're starting to stage everything, and he said, oh, they're putting in electrical work. It's electrical stuff. For what? Could you please tell us what's going on? You know, I am very much planning when I retire to take my state pension out of the state of California. I just don't like what's going on here. I really never wanted to live in Marino Valley, that's another story, but you know what? I try to get out, I end up coming back. But you know what? It's been corruption, corruption since the beginning. I voted to make Reno Valley a city in 1984. And it's just been so much corruption and lack of transparency from the beginning. So I'd really like for you to just let us know what's going on in our neighborhood, please. And thank you so much. And I'll have to go to the bathroom. I'd love to stay, but I've been holding it for a long time. Have a great day. Thanks.

Thank you. We'll follow up with you.

The next three speakers are Mr. George Haag, followed by Bob Palomares, and followed by Matthew Jenkins. Mr. George Haag, go ahead and unmute yourself.

My name is George Haag. I hope within the next month, at the most two months, you will have our truck routes before you. It's taken a while. Compared to where we were initially almost a year ago, The city has done a much better job. There is one area that I am still concerned about. I'll bring it up probably more than once between now and when you vote. And that is a section between Cactus Avenue and Alessandra Boulevard. The whole purpose of truck routes is to avoid sensitive receptors. Close to the top of that list is families in their homes and trying to enjoy their backyard and just living and being away from truck routes. Well, the section of Hecox Street between Cactus Avenue and Alessandra Boulevard, just the part that's going north, not the part going south, just going north, there are homes adjacent on the east side of Hecox Street. There's no reason for trucks to use that section of the road. because they would be forced then to turn left onto Alessandro, which raises a whole other problem, is on the north side of Alessandro you have many apartments, also some homes. So again, you are requiring, if you allow trucks to use that little section of Peacock to go north, and they therefore have to turn left onto Alessandro, you are again exposing families to the toxicity of diesel trucks, and there's no reason to do that. If you eliminate that little section of the road northbound on Hecox Street, trucks would then need to go left onto Cactus over to the 215. It does not restrict the flow of traffic. You may hear that from different people. It does not. It also does not make it so it does not comply our plan with what the state wants. Get it straight from the state whether that happens or not. You may hear that the turning pocket on Hecox Street to turn left on the Cactus may not be long enough for the queuing of the trucks. That is possible. But what's more important, spending some money, making the turning pocket longer, or punishing families with toxicity and health impacts by saying, well, we can't make it longer, so we've got to give the truck. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Bob Palomares, followed by Matthew Jenkins, followed by Morgan Valle.

Good evening, council, staff, public, and our first responders. I always wish them the best. The issue with the parking with the police and the people dropping off their kids at school, actually falls on the school district. When they built those schools, they should have considered that. I mean, history tells them from looking at the other schools what's gonna happen, and they ignore it. But we don't know if there's gonna be any more schools built, but they should consider that. I was at the planning commission meeting, the last one that they had, and talking about the Penske that's gonna come in. There was a lot of people, well, not a lot, there was a few people in opposition to it, and I understand everybody's entitled to their opinion, but one of the planning commissions, Joanne Steffens, she made it clear that we just get all the information, and we dissect it, look at it, they meet all the requirements, and there it is. We have nothing to do with it, and if it's okay, you know, The staff puts it forward. If we deny it, you can appeal it, bring it to here, to the city council, but if we deny it, we could get sued. And you know, there it is. And sometimes I wonder why people can't understand that. I couldn't when I started coming here. I said, wait a minute, what's, you know, I'm talking like a damn fool here and I forgot to read what's really going on. But, uh, Shifting gears here, when they talk about, I don't know if you're going to be having a study session on the data centers, but it's never going to fly here. The reason is, this is August 19th, the reservoirs are drying up. Lake Paul and Lake Mead are at the lowest level since 1957. All that water's gotta go to the farmers, for sure. And you know, of course, people gotta drink. But if you give it, tell all these data centers to go by the ocean, they wanna use water. Because you know, our electricity also comes from Lake Powell and Lake Mead. It's three states, Arizona, California, and Nevada. So we're in trouble if you wanna entertain that. Data centers aren't going to work here at all. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Matthew Jenkins, followed by Morgan Valle, followed by Luis Palomares.

Good evening council members and neighbors. My name is Matthew Jenkins. I'm a local filmmaker here in Moreno Valley. The first thing I want to say is that there are more than 2,800 jail jurisdictions and over 3,000 total local jail facilities in the United States. But last year, Riverside County had more inmate deaths than any other county in the United States of America. That's a problem, and I think this is a big part of the problem. I stand before you as a survivor of fentanyl. It almost took my life, but surviving the overdose was only part of the horror. The withdrawal that followed was pure agony, the most beautiful... Excuse me, the most brutal, terrifying thing I have ever endured. Fentanyl withdrawal completely hijacks your mind, body. You lose every sense of control over yourself. Every nerve feels on fire, violently sick, shaking, sweating, and trapped in an overwhelming panic. Your brain screams that you are dying, and in that state, rational thought vanishes. You aren't choosing to suffer. You are physically powerless against the chemical that owns you. That is why our current approach to arrest is failing. We pick people up off the streets of Marino Valley, throw them in jail cell, and let them go through this living hell on a cold concrete floor without proper medical detox or real treatment. Locking people up in a severe withdrawal doesn't cure addiction. It leaves them desperate, broken, and far more likely to overdose the moment they walk back out that door. If we truly want to eradicate fentanyl from our city, we must reform how we handle those who are suffering. Medical detox and custody is one. Provide immediate supervised medical care and medicated assistant treatment for anyone detained who is in withdrawal state. A diversion to treatment, direct non-violent offenders straight into secure rehab facilities instead of standard jail cells. Reentry support, ensure anyone released from custody connects directly to housing, mental health resources, and recovery programs that never return to the street corners again. Aggressive supply crackdown. Focus law enforcement resources on cutting off the dealers flooding our neighborhoods with this poison. Punishing someone for a physical agony or chemical dependency will not save Moreno Valley. Comprehensive medical support, rehabilitation, and decisive action will. I was a fentanyl addict for five years. I thought I was taking Percocets. After six months, I found out from a Facebook post that it was fentanyl. By that time, I was so addicted, there was no turning back. I almost lost my life. I'm lucky to even be standing here having this conversation with you. But what I saw in the county jails was so close to a concentration camp. And I've been to jail before. Guys are on their bunks, on those cookie sheets, withdrawing, vomiting all over themselves, defecating all over themselves, and nobody's doing nothing. I see the inmates seem to help them more than the actual deputies. And maybe they don't understand what they're going through. This is just another epidemic. We want to go hard on drugs. We did that with crack in the 80s, with the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. And what did we do? We filled up the jails, and nothing got done. The war on drugs has failed.

Thank you.

The next two speakers are Morgan Valle followed by Louise Palomares.

I wanted to reiterate the people who talked about traffic safety. For sure, we need more enforcement, not less. We need red light cameras and we need to implement our safety plan with fidelity. We have so many great infrastructure changes in there that would make our roads safer. The Planning Commission recently decided that they wanted to be the Traffic Safety Commission. And they decided to go off on a tangent talking about school zones. I would like to see some retraining for our planning team. They should know what is the purview. The chair should know what it is they can discuss. And city staff needs to interrupt when they go off on those things. I would also like to see a public admonishment for that commissioner who sat on that dais and said, we can ignore the traffic laws because it's a burden to me. That statement was public from the dais. There should be a public admonishment for that. The city needs to state that we don't agree with her. Talking about the school zones, I've been hearing after the first week of school, we did a ton of ticketing, which was fantastic. After that, I started hearing murmurings of, well, maybe we can just let them park in the bike lanes during pickup and drop off. Maybe we can just be less strict, more lenient with ticketing. When we have those conversations, the piece that we're leaving out is that kids and people bike and walk as transportation. Kids walk to school, kids bike to school, people walk to work, people bike to work. And when we have that conversation saying, well, your safety is not that important. We're going to make it more convenient for the cars. What we're saying is if you don't have a car, you're a second class citizen. If you don't have a car, your kid doesn't deserve a safe route to go to school. Too bad you're on your own. Why would we ever make changes that make it less safe for our children to get to school? They are not second class citizens. They deserve the same education that families that can afford cars or families whose parents don't have disabilities and can drive. There will always be people who cannot drive. And I'm telling you, I do school drop off. I do it every day. there is always parking within a reasonable walking distance. Canyon Springs might be the only exception to that, little bit further, but I will go with you, pick a school, let's go. I will show you that there is legal parking within a reasonable walking distance. And if you're talking about the high schools, except for Canyon, the parking lots are wide open. The parents will not pull into the parking lot because it's less convenient for them, because then they have to wait in a line to get out. So they would rather park in the bike lanes, knowing that the chances of them getting a ticket is very slim. You can't make parking convenient and you can't make pickup and drop up convenient for everyone. When you're trying to cram six, seven, 800 cars around a school, it's never gonna be convenient. We have to work together as a community to make it safe and know, yeah, you're gonna sit in traffic for 15, 20 minutes because there's just not physically enough space to cram that many cars in where you can just pick up and go. The way that you would make it more convenient is reduce the number of cars. The way we do that is make it safe to walk and bike to school. So please, please, when we are looking at our school zones, safety should be the priority.

Thank you.

The next two speakers are Louise Palomars, followed by Roy Blecker.

Hello, community activist Louise Palomares. Wow, the gentleman behind me that told us the story about what's going on at the, you know, at the Riverside Sheriff's Station over there sat. We need to... you know, man up and see what we can do to help, because there's a lot of people addicted now. A lot, a lot of people. And it's a sad day. It's a sad day on our country altogether. It's like we're in a dying world. I wasn't going to go there, but here I am. I was going to say something else, and I still am. You know, our mayor, I don't believe, you know, I believe he's out to lunch. He's not here. There's a lot of controversial stuff that's going to go on, talk about later on. He's not here. You know, he's got an F report card from me, and I believe a lot of the community members here. You know, he's got an F on, you know, $2 million lawsuits. $2 million he cost our city in lawsuits. Now it's going to the federal court, and we're going to identify him in that one, too, because he claims he was acting as the acting mayor. He was a... in his duty as being the mayor here. So we identified him with the $2 million. We lost that previous lawsuit. Now we're going to identify him in federal court in LA. How much money? An F. Also in the senior center, we poured how much into that? $5 million? We gave them a senior center that still don't work. The seniors are walking, you know, they're parking their car down the street. They took some of the parking lot in the back. $5 million. We should have gave them You know, we should have gave them a state-of-the-art senior center. That's what we should have did. But the seniors are always the last people, you know, to get what they need here. The museum, an effing museum. How long has that museum been built at the mall? Isn't that mall going away pretty soon? How much money have we poured in there, a million or more? And it's still not up and running. It's a joke. That's another F for the mayor. Okay, the Brown Act violation. Way back when, years ago, he violated the Brown Act with him and Marcus on that dais there. You know, he put somebody in there that shouldn't have even been there he brought the district attorney said fix it or else fix it or else and he still didn't want to fix it but they said or else the da had to come down here mike headstrom had to come down here not personally but send you know some information down here you got to fix that or else that's another f you know An F all the way. You know, he has F'd up our city so bad. He signed up with a beautiful project, Hillwood, that was gonna bring us tons of money. We would've had four soccer fields. We would've had $60 million. They were gonna mow the lawn and water it and everything. We would've had a state-of-the-art I'M SO MAD I CAN'T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT. WE'RE GOING TO ADD FOR OUR STUDENTS OUT THERE, BUT INSTEAD HE WASTE THE TIME ON ALL THESE LITTLE PROJECTS, YOU KNOW, PAY TO PLAY PROJECTS FOR HIM. YOU KNOW, THE ARTS COMMISSION. HE DON'T EVEN SHOW UP THERE.

THANK YOU.

THE FINAL SPEAKER IS ROY BLACKER.

So Mayor Ulysses Baby Jesus Cabrera is sick. Well, I'll tell you what we the people are sick of, Baby Jesus Cabrera. We're sick of the surveillance state you brought into this city costing us $3 million. We already had a camera system we paid for that was not as invasive as you brought in, and then you sued them because another man rubbed his leg up against you. This is the shame you bring on our city, Mr. Cabrera. and those who support him, and those who bow down to them, and those who vote with him at every single vote. We're sick of baby Jesus Cabrera costing us $2 million trying to stifle the right of people to freely express their constitutional rights of free political speech. And he will use every tool, the government, the law, to suppress you. Cost us $2 million. He sat right up there at that dais five years ago and defied our city attorney and our city clerk. when they told him, you cannot appoint LaDonna Jemison legally. And he said, you know what? He middle fingered all of us and went ahead and did this and exposed this city to the Hall of Shame. You won't put him under oath. You should put him under oath like everybody else and demand the truth be told. Because you know what? Under oath, If you don't tell the truth, even of that, you can be convicted of perjury. We need leaders in this community that will stand up for us. We the people. Not cower in the corner, not make excuses. Do what is right. For all of us. So we can be proud of this community like we once were. Like I said, in 84, we had some of the best economic and education demographics on that day. You see right up there. Now we're down at the bottom. There's only one way we're going to change that. as if we all stand up and not repeat the mistakes we've made in the past. What day, what time do we start working for the people of Marina Valley?

Thank you.

The next speaker is caller ending in 3163. Go ahead and unmute yourself by pressing star six.

Hi Council, my name is Nevaeh and I'm saddened to say that I can't make it in person today, but I just want to start off by saying that I was not born and raised in Moreno Valley, but I do deeply care about my community and my city and I would love to see it thrive. more than it has ever thrived before, not only for everybody that lives in the city now, but for future generations to come. And I do believe that safety should be a top concern in any city. And I just, I don't believe, and I cannot wrap my head around why anybody would think mass surveillance would be the way to go about safety for everyone in the city of Moreno Valley or in any city. And I believe that we should be directing our taxpayer dollars towards something that would actually benefit everybody and would benefit us in tangible ways instead of just trusting empty promises and empty words that come out of a corrupt mayor's mouth or any politician for that matter. Um, I like to see action rather than words. And, um, I think a way, a lot of ways that we could do that and research shows this as well as implementing, um, you know, implementing the, the citizens of, of the city of Moreno Valley to, um, really just like outreach, get outreach programs going. I mean, we could all be connected in so many different ways. We could have cleanup projects, not only for the homeless, not only for Our streets, but our green spaces as well, because we have so much beautiful public land in Moreno Valley that we are not utilizing and are not treating with respect. And I just know that we can thrive so much more as a city than we are now. And I think a huge step in progress. Um, would be to get rid of all of these ALPR is not only flock, but axon, um, and access communications as well. I do believe that traffic cameras that we have had on our, on our streetlights. Um, have been fine, but we're overdoing it now. I mean, I, I count six, seven, eight cameras on one light pole when I'm driving down Paris Boulevard or when I'm driving by Morona Valley high school. I'm sorry, but that does not make me feel safe. That does not give me any reason to trust that I'm safe.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Temp, that concludes all the public comments on items not on tonight's agenda.

Brian, are you going to mention something?

Yes, I do believe there was a speaker that talked about the Planning Commission requesting study sessions and when those potentially would be heard. That request actually came after a certain council member on this dais requested or suggested certain study sessions, one on data center. So next Tuesday night, September 8th, we'll be doing a study session on data centers. And then in October, the study session, which I believe is October 13th, that Tuesday, we're going to be doing a study session on the industrial manufacturing zones, the various vacancy related to industrial, the various uses and so forth related to that particular use. And then a separate study session related to a few additional uses that had been mentioned throughout various comments here in the council related to uses around um car washes around gas stations around some other land uses now keep in mind that although we are planning on doing that in october we also have to be mindful of what potentially is already in the application process and so um because they have due process as well so Depending on what potentially is in the process will dictate the secondary study session in October that item in certain land uses but in essence these things will be coming through this body which will be council and all the planning commissioners have been made aware and they are all invited to attend those study sessions.

Thank you for that up there Brian. Now moving to J, joint consent calendars. We're now going to move to our joint consent calendar section J. Before I open the consent calendar for public comment, I ask my fellow council members if there are any items they wish to remove from the consent calendar for separate action. okay um moving along uh we will now be taking public comments in the order they are received for those items they're removed for separate actions respective platform use whether in person by phone or virtual Okay, since, let's see, page six, okay. We will now be taking public comments on the remaining items that were respective. Monica, are there any requests to speak on any consent calendar items?

The first three speakers are Seth Cox, followed by Tatiana Flores, followed by Christopher Baca.

Evening Council, Pro Tem, staff, audience, anybody online? Mine's easy tonight, okay? J10. expended here the the monthly register okay um we all talk about transparency holding people accountable etc etc i would like to see in the risk register i work with a risk register every day sorry they um The register, I'll just call it that. I would like to see more detail, okay? Right now, you have a vendor's name there, and then you have an invoice number. And then suddenly you have 10 line items for that one invoice, but you have one gross number at the top. So there's no detail for me to go look at to see what you guys are actually spending money on. And yes, I do read the entire register. Not many people do, but I do. I'm a little paranoid, I guess, or lunatic. Who knows? But that's what I work with every day is numbers, details, and details matter. It also prevents me from doing some of my other complaining about where we actually spend money, i.e., where we bail them all out. So thank you. Thank you.

The next three speakers are Tatiana Flores, followed by Christopher Baca, followed by Roy Bleckert.

Good evening, Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Tatiana Flores. I'm a resident in District 4, and I'm here once again to show my support for the mitigation measures, J1.1, I guess. My colleagues and I appreciate that our suggestions and concerns were addressed throughout this process of, you know, actually working on these mitigation measures, drafting them, and moving them to Planning Commission and now to City Council, especially when we were mentioning our concerns about building height and cubic footage and how that has played out in the city of Redlands. So we appreciate that the council listened to our concerns about that. I believe this process has highlighted how community-based orgs, residents, advocates, and city staff can and should work together to create mitigation measures or just to talk to residents about what is coming to the city. I know we all understand the importance of civic engagement and how many obstacles there actually are for residents to be involved. I can speak for myself and some of my other colleagues that we're happy to help in that process to ensure that residents can find other forms to participate if they are unable to attend these meetings that often go on for hours. I'm hoping that this collaboration is something that we can all continue to expect moving forward and continuing to just have conversations with residents about what mitigation measures they would like to see around their area to help improve air quality concerns or just like traffic concerns, that sort of thing. And then lastly, for J15, just wanted to encourage you all to accept this grant. It would be a good opportunity to set up a mitigation bank to offset the impacts that actually come from VMT and trucking. I hope this would also be another opportunity for us to collaborate and work together on something that protects residents and actually helps fund other projects or mitigation measures that can improve the quality of life here. And yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Christopher Baca, followed by Roy Blecker, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Good evening again. My comment is regarding J7, adopt the resolution directing the city voting delegate and city manager to vote in favor of the League of California Cities Resolution 1. So the Resolution 1 is basically a cut and paste thing from different entities, but my concern is housing, I mean, I'm sorry, local land use authority. And my concern is with Brian Mohan, cutting and pasting this and why and how did this come about and what is his concern as far as land use authority regarding possibly the MOU for the Gilman Hills project, that illegal MOU that he created. created and pushed under the table and uh with highland fairview and all his fake llcs his corruption and so forth and so on whatever all that bs is about regardless i'm very concerned that this has anything to do with the gilman hills annexation And if this is something that he's trying to pass in order to pass more of his BS nonsense with Highland Fairview, this is a very big concern to our community. How in the heck are you going to put 50,000 more homes along Gilman Springs Road when it's a two lane highway? Come on. You know, how can the city be considering such things? nonsense, bizarre, idiotic nonsense to bring in more housing and more warehousing, 50 warehouses. along the 60 and Gilman Springs. How idiotic. You know, the staff does not live in this community. They are just here to make themselves look good that they're doing something. So we need to stop this bullshit with the great big developments and warehousing. We can't even get the heck out of this town in 2020. decent amount of time we're stuck in traffic we're gridlocked how in the hell are you going to put more bullshit this is bullshit and i ask you not to vote on j7 to give authority more authority to people that do not live in our community and are destroying our way of life furtherly we're gridlocked we're we're we can't breathe because of this development, this unregulated development, and you're giving them more authority to do more BS, please. Thank you.

The next two speakers are Roy Blackard followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Jay, for the conflict of interest code, this city has been 42 years of a conflict of interest. That's why we see ourselves and that's why you hear what you hear today, 42 years ago, and every day in between. Master J5, the master attendance between boards and commissions. Our last planning commission meeting, we only had three members up there out of seven. we wouldn't have had them up there if baby jesus and his disciple earl and gonzalez would have had their way you know those three have been on over a year it was over a year ago that you guys the other three had to pass a deal on there so if you didn't make an appointment we would at least have a planning commission and we wouldn't have had a meeting if you'd had your way when you tried to put some people on the planning commission that we're not qualified or legally able to serve. Or we're going to manipulate the process to try and get our friends who worked on our campaigns on the planning commissions. You want to talk about conflict of interest and you think I'm wrong? Then come in and sit beside me and we'll broadcast it till the cows come home. And I got those three little words from you, which you all will not take up. Prove me wrong. You know why you won't? Because you can't. Because you don't have the guts enough to actually play fair. Play for we the people. Know when you can control it, you're all thumbs up and good. But when you have to defend your actions, you run like cowards. The city council attendants have come up here and I've given you nine million gazillions ways to fix this. And the attendance is good between Ed and Elena, pretty good. The rest of you, not so good. And then you want to rip us? And you want us to waste our time when you could care less what we think? I used to go to them. But you know what? I was told basically, get the F out. We don't want to hear you. And you do that by scheduling the meetings to Arts Commission, Planning Commission on top of each other. How do you attend both? The League of Cities, like Chris brought up, like Pete said, it's where you go to have your brains sucked out and they put in race taxes, suppress the people, Why don't we get out of the League of Cities and start working for the League of Moreno Valley Citizens and make this a city it should be, not the asshole it is. Thank you.

The next two speakers are Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Luis Palomares.

Hello again. I would like to commend the city, city staff, council for working with community over J-1, the ordinance, adopting the used facilities mitigation measures. It's been a long time in process to develop this, and I want to commend everybody to, you know, taking our feedback. This is how the city should operate, you know, having community meetings, listening to our concerns. You listened to our concern about cubic footage. Thank you so much about that. I hope you can pass this tonight. I want to maybe explain to Moreno Valley residents, the people tuning in and the people in the audience, why this is so important. There is a research paper called The Region in Crisis. There's two papers. The last one came out this year in June. The first one came out in 2023. Both are available online for free at the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice website. It was authored by the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Fitzgerald College, Sierra Club, and CCAEJ, amongst other people. And this research paper says that there is 1 billion square feet of warehouse space in the Inland Empire, with an additional 170 million square feet currently approved or pending. Out of that 170 million square feet, 25% is here in Moreno Valley. Why? It's tied up to the World Logistics Center, the biggest complex for logistics in the world. That's hence where it gets its name. Because of these warehouses, 600,000 daily truck trips experienced here in the Inland Empire. 1,000 pounds of diesel particulate matter are produced every day. 100,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides are produced every day. And over 50 million pounds of carbon dioxide are produced every day because of this industry. The American Lung Association ranks Riverside and San Bernardino counties as the first and second counties in the country having the worst air quality in terms of smog. And I hope you could pass this. I hope. Come October, thank you to the city manager for that clarification, that this will be the end of warehouses in Moreno Valley. There's enough warehouses approved, 40 million square feet over to the east end. That is more than any one city should have at all. And we have five more warehouses coming down the pipeline, maybe four or five. You guys have the authority to leverage... Your planning, zoning rules, taxation. The city of Paris is considering taxing warehouses in general. You should be doing the same. Mitigation measures. This is the first step. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The next and final speaker is Luis Palomares.

Luis Palomares, community activist. You know, our mayor, he's a big joke. You know, I'm saying that because he's the one that puts anybody he wants on these boards and commissions. I was looking at the planning commission the other day. You got three experienced people that were there that was doing the right thing for the right reasons. Imagine if he fills it up with a bunch of amateurs, because that's what he wants to do. He wants to make it the amateur, just like he threw Gonzalez in there. You know, we had him on one of the boards and commissions for six months, then he threw him on here. And he jumps how high? Whatever you want me to vote for mayor, I'll do whatever you want. That's what you're about, Gonzalez. So I feel bad for these boards and commissions. And he don't even go to the meetings. He's on some of these commissions and these boards. He don't go. He was in the arts commission way back in the day. He never went to that meeting. Very rare. But he got all his... His wraps up there on the utility boxes, also all the things all over the, golly golly, all over the murals, all over the city, $60,000, $40,000 for a mural, $25,000. Those were all the pay-to-play people. They came and lobbied him. And he gave them what they wanted. We paid for that. We the people paid for that. So, you know, these boards and commissions, and he bragged about, oh, when I'm the mayor, I'm going to fill them all up. Hey, there's still a lot of empty boards and commissions. You know, there is. And it's a sad day in Marina Valley. We got a train wreck for a mayor. I hope he doesn't win that seat again because we're in a hell of a lot of trouble if he does. He has done so much damage to our city. You know, he don't attend these boards and commissions. Oh, maybe the JPE, oh yeah. So he can rub elbows and, you know, lobby and vote for me, I'll set you free, and yada, yada, and et cetera, et cetera, and all about it. The mayor has taken us nowhere on these boards and commissions. So I hate to see who's going to be on the planning commission because that's a big commission. That's almost as important as the city council because they dot all the T's and cross all the I's and et cetera, et cetera. You know, I'm saying it backwards, but oh, wow. So come on. Come on. People here in Moreno Valley, you got to wise up to this mayor. Everything's a pay-to-play thing. How convincing, how convenient he's not here today when there's a big, on the project, on one of these, I think it's one of these items on the calendar. He don't want to be there to vote for it or against it. He's playing it pretty smart today because it's an election year. Yeah, where are you, Cabrera? Man up. Come on out. You can't even hang this guy right here, Gonzalez. He has to run the show here. He's not doing pretty good of a job right now, Cabrera. Give him a text. Call him up and tell him what you want him to do. I'm sure you have already. So come on. Do the right thing for our community. And as far as the general plan, we've got to stick to the general plan. You know, we can't waver. We were in trouble with them so long about the general plan. How many years later, finally we got it up and running.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Temp, that concludes all of public comments and the remaining items on the consent calendar.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? So moved.

Second that motion.

Please vote.

Council Member Bernard?

Yes.

Council Member Delgado?

Yes.

Council Member Bacasan-Cruz? Yes. And Mayor Pro Temp-Gonzalez?

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay. So we're going to move right along to item K public hearings, public testimony on a public hearing matter shall be limited to three minutes per individual and must pertain to the subject under consideration. Those wishing to testify should complete and submit a golden rod speaker slip to the city clerk staff. We will now be taking public comments the order they are received irrespective of the platform used, whether in person, by phone, or virtual. K1. For item K-1, the city attorney has requested that this item be continued to October 20th, 2026 to provide staff some time to solicit additional input from our local school districts and their students, teachers, parents, and district employees. As such, we will have to limit public comments to the issue of the continuance. Are there any council questions of staff? We'll now invite any public speakers in the order they are received, irrespective of the platform used, whether in person, by phone, or virtual, limited to the issue of the continuance only. Do we have any requests to speak on the issue of the continuance only?

We do not, Mayor Pro Temp.

Okay. We will move along. I now close the public hearing and invite any council deliberation if desired. I entertain a motion on city attorney's request for a continuance.

I make a motion to approve city attorney's request for continuance to the meeting of October 20th to allow for time for circulation with the school districts as well as parents, district employees, and other residents in that area. I second that motion.

Let's call for the vote.

Thank you. Council member Bernard. Yes. Council member Delgado. Yes. Council member Baca, Santa Cruz. Yes. And mayor for Tim Gonzalez.

Yes.

Thank you.

Now we move to item K two for item K two. There will be a staff report by committee of on director Angelica for us to Lupo. Are there any council questions of staff at this time?

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council. We do have a presentation today which will be conducted by Planning Manager Sergio Madero.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez and members of the City Council. The item before you is a proposed amendment to the municipal code related to the updated 2026 Stevens Kangaroo Rat Habitat Conservation Plan mitigation fee established by the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency. On July 9th, 2026, the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency approved an updated fee schedule for the Stevens Kangaroo Rat Habitat Conservation Plan based on the finding of a 2026 nexus fee study The Nexus fee study determined that the existing $500 per gross acre mitigation fee, which has remained unchanged since 1996, no longer generates sufficient revenue to support administration, biological monitoring, reserve management, and other habitat conservation plan implementation requirements. Adoption of the proposed ordinance will implement the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency's updated mitigation fee of $900 per gross acre for applicable development within the city. For single-family residences on a single legally created lot, a mitigation fee of $250 shall be paid. And for agricultural development, which requires a development permit, a mitigation fee of $500 per gross acre shall be paid. The adjustments will ensure that new development continues to contribute its proportional share of costs associated with mitigating impacts to Stephen's kangaroo rat habitat. City of Moreno Valley together with cities of Corona, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Paris, Riverside and Temecula and the County of Riverside have formed the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency to plan for, acquire, administer, operate and maintain land and facilities for ecosystem conservation and the creation of habitat reserves to implement habitat and ecosystem conservation plans and programs for the species of concern. The Stevens Kangaroo Rat Habitat Conservation Plan streamlines project approvals by establishing a regional incidental take authorization, eliminating the need for costly project-specific negotiations with wildlife agencies. To fund the program, the City collects mitigation fees from developers prior to issuing grading permits and remits the fees in full to the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency. Because these funds are completely passed through the city to the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency, implementing the updated fee schedule creates zero fiscal impact to the city's general fund. The proposed municipal code amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act in accordance with section 15061 of the CEQA guidelines in that the amendments involve general policy and procedure making and it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the amendments will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council find that the proposed Municipal Code Amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Equality Act and that the City Council introduce the ordinance and adopt the same at a subsequent City Council meeting adopting the updated 2026 Stevens Kangaroo Rat habitat conservation plan mitigation fee established by the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency and adopting findings required by government code section 66001 incorporating the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency's nexus study by reference. This concludes our staff report and I'm available for any questions that the State Council may have.

Thank you. Are there any council questions of staff at this time? Okay. We will not invite any public speakers in the order that they are received, and depending on any of the platforms. Do we have any speakers? Madam Clerk.

We do. The first speaker is Ismael Gonzalez.

Hello again, Council. I want to voice my support for this item. Please go ahead and vote yes on approving the heightened mitigation fee, if I'm not mistaken. I think it's called mitigation fee, but I'm looking at the Nexus study right now. And I just want to provide more information about this really cute creature, the Stevens Kangaroo Rat, the SKR. I want to acknowledge that Riverside County, the RCHCA, at one point had a mitigation fee of $1,950 per acre. That was back in 1988. We are considering hiking it up from 500 to 900. But I got to ask you, why not just go back to that amount back in the 80s? Because that would probably help this creature and all of its associated benefits even better. The kangaroo rat... is a keystone species. It is found here in Western Riverside County, as well as Northern San Diego County. It has a 75% survival rate whenever it's attacked by a snake. Can you believe that? It bounces up. and is faster than a snake we should be prideful of this creature being here located here being native to this area this creature turns soil from its burrows and also stores seeds in its cheek pouches and those seeds are then go on to produce a lot of brus and plants for other animals to hide in. I want to make note of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. It's right here, right next to us. It is one of the most biologically diverse hotspots In California, it is part of the Pacific Flyway area or region where birds and animals go up north and come down south all across the Pacific from Alaska to South America. This little kangaroo rat helps those birds survive and migrate, right? It helps everything else in that area. You know what doesn't help the Stevens kangaroo rat or any of those other animals? Warehouses. The World Logistics Center will be right next to that wildlife area. The same developer, Ito Benzivi, is planning on putting 3,000 homes over there. That's insane. You are going to be a detriment to this creature if you don't reconsider or oppose those plans. Please save this little creature. We should be proud of it. I would even say be more proud of it than the donkeys who are not native to this region. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Roy Blackard.

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Stephen's kangaroo rat is not a species, it's a mutation, and it started right here. And all you young folk that are saying, hey, boomer, you got this and you got these houses and you can't, you know, we can't afford them now. Go worship your little Stephen's kangaroo rack because that's where all these fees and stuff started. I can tell you right now, if we didn't have stupid fees like this, the price of a house would be one third easily without even batting an eye. over protecting a mutation. You can take almost, and again, you can take almost a third of the price of a house, 500,000, take 160, 100 plus thousand, we call it the open the door fee. That's what you pay for Stephen's Kangaroo Rat government agencies just to get a building permit. Or you buy a one, two by four, hammer one nail, piece of drywall, shingle on a roof, tree in the front yard, or anything else. This is how much insanity we've had. If we had a staff that was working for us, if we had a council working for us, you would vote no 37,000 times on this. And you would be providing staff, if I was giving the staff report, it would be just like this times 10. Because we've got to stop the insanity we've created. You want to know why the traffic is? Why the pollution is? Why the high cost of housing is? It starts with the insanity of the Stevens Kangaroo Rat and what it has brought upon us. That's the history we have. We could change that. We could change that right now. And this is where it started, right here. When are we going to have guts enough to come up here and tell the truth and stand for the people? You want people to have the opportunity I had and my generation had? Well, let's start creating it. Let's start putting the policies in place that are going to do that. We know what worked. Now we know what doesn't work. But you want to keep perpetuating insanity, and you know who's going to pay for it? Not me, future generations, and it'll be on your watch.

Mayor Pro Temp, that concludes all of public testimony on this item.

Thank you. I now close the public hearing. Invite any council deliberation on this item. I do have one question for staff. I just want to clarify the fee increased only in certain brackets from about $400 right from $500 to $900 and it stayed the same for single family homes, single lots. Is that pretty much correct?

Mayor Pro Tem, all the fees have increased across the board, so even for the single-family homes, it's gone up. I don't know that there was a differentiation prior to. I could check real quick in the staff report.

I just see the current fee for it.

$250,000 to $250,000. That stays the same.

Okay. I just want to clarify that. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve this public hearing item?

I'll motion to approve.

I second that motion.

Please call for the vote.

Council Member Bernard? Yes. Council Member Delgado? Yes. Council Member Baca-Santa Cruz? Yes. And Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez? Yes. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, I need to disclose at this time before you open item K-3 regarding the appeal of the Planning Commission's action to not approve conditional use permit for self-storage facility that since I was the chief legal advisor at the Planning Commission public hearing, the law requires me to recuse myself as the chief legal representative for the city during this appeal hearing so i have attending on my on behalf of the city attorney's office or assistant city prosecutor lisa weaver she's sitting out here so i will recuse myself at this point thank you stephen thank you for that clarification

now we we move to k3 um appeal of planning commission's action to not approve condition use permit for self-storage facility and district three uh please have a staff report uh community development director angelico frostalupo thank you mayor pro tem city council members we do have planning managers said you know madera here to provide the presentation thank you

Thank you again, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the City Council. The item before you tonight is an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision not to approve the proposed project. On June 11, 2026, the Planning Commission considered the proposed project at a noticed public hearing. After public testimony and deliberation, the Planning Commission voted two in favor and three against on a motion to approve the project. with no alternative motion provided, leaving the project not approved. The applicant appealed the Planning Commission's decision not to approve the project within the 10-day appeal period prescribed by Municipal Code Section 9.02.240. Seem to have a little technical difficulty here with the presentation. Here we go. More ahead. Thank you. The project site is located north of Alessandra Boulevard on the east side of Indian Street. The project site is vacant and approximately three acres in area. The project site is located within the corridor mixed-use zone. Self-storage facilities are permitted in the zone, the commercial mixed-use zone, subject to approval of a conditional use permit. The applicant is requesting approval of a conditional use permit for the development of a approximately 131,000 square foot three-story self-storage facility that includes 1,134 storage units, 52 outdoor RV spaces, and landscaping improvements. A total of 12 standard parking spaces are provided. Direct access to the project site is provided via Indian Street. There are also two additional secondary access driveways from the adjacent gas station and auto parts store. A minimum six foot high decorative block wall is required and proposed adjacent to the existing residential development on the east. In addition, a 10 foot landscape buffer is proposed on the east property line adjacent to the existing residential. It is important to note that the proposed building has been set back approximately 196 feet from the common property line shared with the existing residences. The project as proposed is consistent with and meets all municipal code requirements. The landscape plan is preliminary and will become final as part of the working drawings when submitted. The preliminary landscape plan does show that landscape setbacks required by the municipal code. The proposed project features a modern commercial design featuring a mix of high-quality materials and distinctive architectural elements. The self-storage building height is three stories with an approximate maximum height of 42 feet 8 inches and is set back approximately 196 feet from the eastern property line. Exterior finishes include stucco, decorative masonry block, and metal panel siding. Decorative windows and doors, metal awnings, with the color scheme represented of public storage as corporate branding, resulting in an appealing project. An initial study was prepared for the project to analyze the mandatory 21 topical areas. The initial study did not identify any potential significant impacts. A mitigated negative declaration was prepared for the project along with a mitigation monitoring reporting program. The initial study mitigated negative declaration was circulated for public review and comment between April 21st, 2026 and May 21st, 2026. Staff received one comment letter on the draft initial study mitigated negative declaration from SoCalGas. With mitigation incorporated, all potential project impacts will be less than significant. Since the appeal was filed, the applicant informed city staff that they were considering offering a voluntary community benefit. The applicant's legal counsel confirmed that a voluntary community benefit has been offered as a condition of approval that would entail a $250,000 donation to the Moreno Valley Community Foundation to be paid prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. If the city council acting in its capacity as the foundation's board of directors accepts the donation, it may be determined which public services to fund. The city's council determination on the use of the funds can be made at a future date if necessary. Since the planning commission meeting, staff have received six letters in support of the project and today we received a phone call in support of the project from the property owner of the parcels immediate south of the project site that contained the existing auto parts store and gas station. With that, staff recommends that the City Council adopt the Mitigated Negative Decoration and Mitigation Monitoring Reporting Program and grant the appeal to approve the conditional use permit for the proposed self-storage facility, subject to the associated conditions of approval.

This concludes staff's presentation, and we are available for any questions that the City Council may have.

The applicant is also here and has their own presentation that they would like to provide to the City Council.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that. Are there any questions, staff?

Council, before we transition to questions, the applicant appellant is present to make a statement.

Thank you. Where's the applicant? Please come up. Thank you.

Good evening. Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez and honorable council members, I'm Francis Park from Park and Villiles representing public storage. I'm a land use attorney and expert in CEQA for over 32 years. We're here tonight to correct an arbitrary, capricious and biased decision by your planning commission and we're respectfully asking you to remedy this mistake. At the Planning Commission hearing in June, there were a number of speakers in opposition to a completely different project on the agenda, a logistics warehouse, and they mistakenly equated that with self-storage. They were uninformed and speaking from the hip with no actual evidence. The two uses are not the same in any way and have dramatically different impacts to the community. These folks were confused in many respects about the project, the need for a CUP, and the height and impacts of the proposed storage building. For example, they asserted without evidence that our project is asking for an exception for the zoning code. The building would be five stories tall. It would eliminate all existing views, deprive the nearby homes of sunlight, and destroy the livelihood of hundreds of people. These are all direct quotes. Unfortunately, none of these statements are correct. They have no substantiation, and they are all contradicted by the technical evidence in your record. The project is not asking for a zoning exception. The building is three stories tall, not five, and the project has literally no impact on views, shade, or traffic, or any other SQL topic. In addition, these speakers at Commission do not live in close proximity to the site and even stated themselves that they knew nothing about the project. These uninformed opinions, however, were taken into consideration by your Commission and the public storage project was not approved. Commission also erred in not adopting an actual motion for denial. Unfortunately, we were not given an opportunity at Commission to correct the record and we were forced to file this appeal. As detailed in our appeal documents, there are many substantive and procedural legal errors that were made by the commission. As confirmed by your expert staff, this project meets all of the required legal findings. It is consistent with the general plan, consistent with the zoning code, and there are no variances or exceptions requested. also like to highlight that our team has conducted extensive community outreach this is in addition to the extensive noticing required by the city and there have been no comments in opposition from the surrounding community in fact the only comments from surrounding community members that you have heard tonight is in support before i turn it over to christopher golder from public storage i want to reiterate that all of the legal findings for approval can be made here that there is no legal basis for project denial and the appeal should therefore be granted. I will now turn it over to Christopher to share more project details.

Thank you, Francis. Good evening. My name is Christopher Golder. I'm the Vice President of Development for Public Storage. First off, I want to thank Gabriel Diaz and Sergio, planning staff, city council members, and Mayor Pro Tem and other members of the public participating in tonight's public hearing. A lot of time and effort has been put into this application. I'd like to take a few minutes to walk you through our brief presentation, and I specifically want to highlight who self-storage customers are, the demand for new self-storage at this facility, the application history, and why we're before you tonight. Design considerations that were made for the project as a result of feedback from staff and community outreach and facts about the project, our community outreach efforts, and the community benefits of the project. Before I get into the project details, I want to give a quick intro to who Public Storage is and how we operate. Public Storage was founded in 1972. It has been in operation for almost 54 years. We have a corporate presence in Southern California with our office in Glendale, California. Public Storage is the largest owner and operator of self-storage, and we're also a long-term owner of properties and focus on investment in key markets. We have nearly 4,600 facilities currently in our portfolio, and public storage has a major focus in Southern California and the Inland Empire, including multiple locations in Marina Valley. Who is a typical Marina Valley self-storage customer, you may ask? Well, the answer is almost everybody. Self-storage customers include suburban homeowners, apartment dwellers lacking space, and small local business owners and operators. Residential customers include people transitioning between moving, requiring additional space for personal possessions or hobbies, and sometimes people trying to simplify their lives, organizing or decluttering. Small business owners and operators include contractors, trade people, storing tools and supplies, or professional service businesses that need additional space for files and records. Many of us, including small businesses, have a need for self-storage at some stage. Simply put, self-storage is a service provider to the community. Why Moreno Valley? We understand Moreno Valley continues to grow with new residential and mixed use development. For example, the Aqua Bella Specific Plan and Moreno Valley Town Center. The project's trade area encompasses approximately 168,000 residents. Moreno Valley also has a positive annual population growth. The current storage landscape surrounding the subject site, including the adjacent facility, demonstrates there is a demand for new climate-controlled storage. Our research indicates that the total ratio of existing climate-controlled square footage to total population within the trade area is low. Existing facilities in vicinity are typically older product, and there hasn't been much new climate-controlled self-storage development despite population and household growth. What this tells us is that the community is currently underserved in terms of climate-controlled and RV storage needs. By constructing this new climate-controlled facility and RV storage, we're providing a needed service which we see as an amenity to the community and supporting housing growth. Why are we here? I know Francis earlier spoke about why we were before city council this evening. However, I wanted to quickly recap the history of our project application. In 2024, we submitted an application for the proposed project. Throughout processing the application, we've worked very closely with planning staff. City staff recommended that planning commission approve the project and that all required findings could be met. The project meets all the requirements and development standards of the zoning code. On June 11th, Planning Commission made a motion to approve the CUP based on staff recommendations, but unfortunately the motion failed to pass on a two to three vote. The Planning Commission did not make any findings to deny the project. Unfortunately, the Planning Commission acted in error, relying on unsupported public comments and confusion about the project. On June 18th, Public Storage timely filed an appeal and we're before you this evening to deliver facts about the project and respectfully request that you consider those facts and grant the appeal and approve the project. To give a quick overview, the development site is a three-acre site depicted on this aerial image. The site is located at the northeast corner of Alessandro and Indian Street in the undeveloped parcels adjacent to an existing, recently acquired public self-storage facility. In the vicinity of the site are commercial uses such as a grocery store, gas station, an auto parts store, and single-family residences to the immediate east. These photos provide some context of the surrounding commercial uses, the nearby Food for Less grocery store, Food for Less gas station, and Auto Zone auto parts store. Immediately to the east is the single family residential, and to the north is the recently acquired public storage facility that will be rebranded to a public storage facility with new identity and signage. This here shows our proposed site plan. The project is a fully enclosed climate-controlled self-storage facility that is a three-story building. The building height is approximately 42 feet 8 inches with 52 recreational vehicle outdoor parking spaces and 12 vehicle parking stalls, a designated customer entrance vestibules and loading and interior elevators, and a new leasing and management office along with new landscaping and site improvements. Access to the project site is provided via a two-way shared driveway from Indian Street. The building has been set back nearly 200 feet from the adjacent existing residential uses to the east. The building setback is far enough that it does not cast any shadow on the adjacent residences or backyards. This is not even physically possible as there is no evidence to the contrary. A new six foot tall decorative block wall is also proposed and provided on the east property line that abuts the single family residential homes and on portions of the north and south property lines that are adjacent to the outdoor parking area for added security and enhanced screening. The new block wall will be built on the public storage side of the east property line and will respect the adjacent existing residential backyards and fences. The entrances to the customer vestibules, loading areas, and RV parking area are all access controlled behind two vehicle security gates. Trash enclosure and electrical transformer are also screened per city development code requirements. Regarding the landscaping improvements, the project includes extensive new landscaping and trees. A 15-foot setback along the Indian Street frontage includes 10 new street trees. The project also provides a 10-foot landscape buffer along the project site setbacks to the east and north, and an 18-foot landscape buffer to the south behind the auto parts store. At the 10-foot landscape buffer along the east and north residential uses, 28 new Pacific Wax Myrtle Evergreen plants are proposed, which are low-maintenance, low-water use, fast-growing, dense evergreen small native trees valued for privacy screening, which can reach a mature height of 10 to 30 feet. In summary, the proposed project complies with all applicable zoning and development standards such as floor area, building height, building setbacks, landscaping, perimeter screening, and parking. This picture here shows what our original proposed design of the project was, which included public storage, prototypical self-storage building architecture and materials such as CMU and exterior block, tower display features and windows, spandrel glass, and public storage identity color scheme. Throughout the city review process, we worked very closely with planning staff to address design comments. Public storage listened, and we made substantial changes to the overall project design, creating a non-prototypical design that blends more into the surrounding commercial and residential uses. This image depicts a significant redesign to better reflect a residential scale and aesthetic. The refined design is consistent with the scale and context of surrounding development. This transformation was achieved through the incorporation of pitch roof, shutter details, and window configurations that are characteristics of residential architecture. As a result, the building now presents itself as a two-story structure featuring both horizontal and vertical changes in plane and an enhanced visual interest in residential appeal. The windows at the midsection of the building are spandrel glass, which is opaque. They are not operational or transparent glass. There are no operational or transparent windows facing the residences to the east, only decorative windows that are spandrel glass and opaque. Exterior elevations and screen walls incorporate high quality materials, to enhance the appearance and maintain consistency and durability, such as CMU, glass, anodized aluminum across all facades, complemented by secondary elements like Ephus, metal accents, and pop-outs to highlight features and create visual interest. Public storage identity colors are limited to only the building signage facing towards Indian Street. I want to also cover the important public community outreach efforts and our public noticing. As noted in the staff report, the purpose of the CUP is to ensure that the project does not result in adverse effects on surrounding properties. We have checked in with residents of the surrounding properties several times. Public storage conducted in-person, door-to-door community outreach with our adjacent residents' neighbors to the east. In September 2025, we canvassed 17 adjacent residential residences along Pheasant Knoll Lane and Carolyn Avenue. Several residents signed a petition in support of the project and no negative feedback was received. We left flyers on resident doors and instructed participants about a virtual and phone town hall meeting to answer any project questions. No one called or participated in the town hall. In July and August of 2026, we conducted additional neighborhood outreach along Pheasant Knoll Lane and Carolyn Avenue. Additional signed support letters were obtained by nearby residents and no negative feedback was received. We also left flyers again on each resident's home and we've had multiple friendly telephone conversations with our neighbors to answer questions they've had about the project. For example, when start of construction, duration, and best representative to contact. Public Storage also submitted these community outreach letters and support petitions to the planning staff. Regarding public notices, 90 public owners within a 600-foot radius, including 70 owners in the adjoining neighborhood, were mailed notifications of the notice of intent to publish the CEQA document and the notice of the June 11th Planning Commission hearing and for this hearing tonight. Staff did not receive any questions or comments after sending the mailed notices. In summary, I want to touch upon the community benefits of the project, many of which I've already explained in the presentation. Public Storage is investing in Moreno Valley and wants to be a respected business owner and operator in the community. Public Storage is also proposing a voluntary community benefit contribution of $250,000 to the Moreno Valley Community Foundation to support the foundation's mission to improve local health, welfare, and education. The contribution is proposed to be memorialized via a voluntary condition of approval. The project addresses a clear need for modern climate-controlled storage in an underserved and growing trade area. The project improves a vacant and undeveloped land site with security and debris issues, and the project complements the surrounding commercial and residential use context with an attractive and thoughtful design. Self-storage is quiet, generates minimum traffic, and places little demand on city infrastructure. Thank you for your time and allowing me to present the proposed project. And again, we respectfully request that you grant the appeal and approve the project. And our team's available to answer any questions that staff may have.

Thank you for that presentation. Does City Council members have questions for the applicant or staff?

I do for staff. Not so much for the applicant. Who am I directing this to? Okay. So just confirming that this project is in a permitted use zone, this is permitted use for the area, no zone changes requested?

That's correct, Councilmember DeGaulle. The use is allowed in the corridor's mixed use zone subject to approval of a conditional use permit.

And for that's a zone change, what about, does it meet the permitted use table that the city set forth regarding a storage unit in the area?

That's correct, it does.

Okay, and if we wanted to say... change that. This is not something that we can do right now. We want to change the permitted use table.

That's correct. That would require a municipal code amendment that would require a notice public hearing. We'd have to go through the process to update the zone.

A lot more to it than just us deciding that tonight.

That's correct.

And then my last question, unlike the Planning Commission, this body, the City Council would have to justify the denial. The Planning Commission didn't provide any justification for denial. They just didn't pass it. They didn't deny it. They just didn't pass it, correct?

That's correct. It was not approved.

It was not approved. It wasn't denied. This body would have to justify a denial for a project that meets all the requirements.

That's correct, Councilman Delgado. We'd have to articulate findings and reasons, technical reasons, reasons based on facts on why we would deny the project. Okay, thank you. I have no more questions.

I have questions for the applicant. Hello. I just want to just two questions. Can you walk us through the design? Why the kind of the three story versus let's say a two story? What was the the vision there at this location?

The maximum floor area ratio for the general plan designation in the zoning is 1 to 1 FAR. And so the project meets that floor area ratio of 1 to 1. Going for three heights is our kind of typical design where we, economies of scale and efficiency for the number of units that we have in the building and access is usually three stories.

And my other question, more of the market. Just from the public storage perspective, you know, why, and you mentioned it, why Moreno Valley and what do you see in self-storage that is unique to this area and potential growth in self-storage?

So Marina Valley has a positive population growth. And then we look at within a three mile trade area of our site, existing storage facilities, which are in this trade area are often older, what we called first gen. So typical drive up type facilities that were built, you know, maybe 20, 30 years ago, if not older. There's a lack of actual interior access climate controlled storage. So that ratio to the total population is very low. in this location, which tells us there's a demand for climate controlled self storage. And then that with positive household and population growth. It's a business decision, and we see it as a key investment for this market in such that public storage also recently acquired some other storage facilities in Marino Valley that were previously under an operator called NSA self storage. And those storage facilities will be branded to public storage, which shows that we believe in this market.

last question maybe this is more for city staff is would this be the first climate controlled facility uh in marina valley or from a self-storage perspective we do have a facility that's currently under construction that is climate controlled uh beyond that i'm not a

I'm not aware of another one, but we do currently have one further to the east end of town that is under construction.

Thank you. Those are all my questions. Okay. We now invite any public speakers in order they are received, whether in person, by phone, or virtual. Do we have any speakers?

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp. The first three speakers are Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Christopher Baca, followed by Marsules Del Viento.

Council members, city staff, not too long ago, you heard a proposal, maybe the planning commission did, where a McDonald's was being considered to take over where Jose's Mexican food was, right? City attorney, Stephen Quintanilla, said that that proposal was able to be denied because public testimony overwhelmingly public testimony that proved that this that project would be detrimental to public health safety and the welfare of the community that night in June at the Planning Commission you heard the applicant say there was a lot of speakers there gave it giving that exact testimony and I was one of them I want to remind the applicant who they're speaking to uh in regards to their condescension uh of who's being confused we are the residents of marina valley we get to decide what comes in here and what doesn't obviously you guys get the formal go-ahead right but i'm telling you that night there was nobody confused as to the different proposals being considered one warehouse the other this self-storage uh facility uh there is The attorney said, we got confused between those two projects. No, we didn't. Guess what is a core function of both? Storage. You put things in warehouses, you put things in self-storage facilities. The difference is there's more doors in a self-storage facility. It's for individuals or small businesses, right? Rather than corporations. But you are putting this self-storage right next to homes. It is gonna be detrimental to their public health. their safety, and their welfare. Why? Because, as the applicant stated, this is a climate-controlled facility. They did not explain how they're going to control that climate. It's probably going to be through diesel generators. It's going to cause pollution, so unless they want to counteract that, they're going to bring more people that are not part of that neighborhood into that neighborhood, causing traffic, causing unknowable storage of water. I don't know, anything. It might cause issues with transients. I'm not too sure. But what I could tell you is that this project right now, what we just saw, was not the same one that the Planning Commission saw. So if you guys want to consider it, send it back to Planning Commission and take it there. We cannot approve it here because this is completely new. This is Irrelevant to what the Planning Commission did. And let me remind you, it was that meeting, that Planning Commission meeting in June, where we decided we need study systems into all these industries. Let me say that according to Public Storage's website, there's 46 self-storage places here in Louisville already.

Thank you. I just want to open the public hearing.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. The next speaker is Mr. Christopher Baca.

Thank you and good evening. First of all, I'd like to let my colleagues know that sometimes we need to agree to disagree and that's not a fatal or horrible issue. But that's my neighborhood. They showed a perimeter of 600 feet. I live 700 feet from there. And I'd like to compare this to what's going on or what occurred with the festival, the previous known festival commercial center, which is now the district. That place was a torn down, horrible, derelict, drug-infested, rat-infested place. area of the city which now we can take pride in. I am very happy and proud to shop there and go by there and compared to what it was. This development is in my neighborhood and I don't see anything wrong with it. Okay, that's a horrible lot. That intersection there attracts homeless people. It needs to be brought up across the street. You have that burned out old Stater Brothers. That shopping center needs to be brought up like the one further down the street on Alessandro and Paris. That is becoming a... you know, something nice for the area. Now let's continue further down Alessandro into Indian and fix that a bit. That storage area there is going to be a benefit to those homes because those homes, that's their backyard and very few homes there are going to be able to see this or see this. All they see there is a dirt lot. They're now going to have a wall which will be a sound barrier. There will also be trees. That'll actually help shade the summer afternoon sun, which will help them. But regardless, I'm sorry, environmentalists, you're wrong on this one. This is my neighborhood, and I think that'll be a big plus to this neighborhood. It is awful. That lot is awful, and I use it. I go to Food for Less. I get my gas there. I go to... That chicken place, I occasionally go to McDonald's for coffee, and I utilize that, and I know the traffic density there, and that's not going to affect it. As far as the air quality, we're not talking about diesels. We're not talking about hazardous waste storage like Penske and so forth, and I think that's a plus-plus for the community, and I urge you council members to go ahead and override the flawed policy decision by the planning commission as Roy mentioned, that's it's not a full planning commission. And other than that, there's a little bit of political play there in that decision. So I urge you to override this and approve it for my neighborhood.

Thank you.

The next two, the next two speakers are more souls. Del Viento followed by Tom Odom.

Hi, everyone. I think we need to normalize leaving land alone. Not everything needs to be developed, right? We don't need to give this lot to another big corporation when it could be used for something else, which may not make a lot of money, but it could benefit the community more, right? I'm also concerned about the emissions that are going to be used for the climate control rooms. Those don't just stay in that area, they travel everywhere. We say this all the time, what happens in one city affects the other city, right? And so while you may not mind that it's in your neighborhood, those emissions are going to travel elsewhere, right? And so my other concern is that What comes after the $250,000 donation? If they're going to stay there, we should continue to see benefits, not just that one donation, right? That's what I'm saying. We're not going to sell out our land to the highest bidder, which may not even be the highest bidder. We could allow Time and other companies to propose building on that land because once it's there, it's there. And then what are we going to do, right? Yeah, I just, I don't agree with this. There are other facilities for self storage that are not this big corporation. We should be supporting the smaller businesses that benefit our community. You guys heard how many locations do they have? How many was it? It doesn't make sense. To me, it doesn't make sense why we're selling our land to these corporations. In the future, I hope that we can consider more community benefits because I think we should just normalize not building on all the land we have. And just, because land is sacred, right? And to put another corporation, I understand it's a vacant lot and it attracts houseless people, but where are the houseless people gonna go, right? What are we doing for the houseless community? That's a different matter, right? But what can we do to, to make the most of this land, and I don't think it's a self-sorge facility. Why don't you guys update your existing facilities to do what you guys want to do, right? Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Shetam Odom, followed by Louise Palomares, followed by Roy Bleckard.

Good evening everyone and pro temp and all the council members. So I was there in June when the planning commission heard this project and denied the conditional use permit. That's another subject. I don't know why we do a lot of permitting people to or companies for to use conditional use permits. Why not just go through the whole system? I don't understand that. But anyways, I listened and I'm listening again tonight after hearing everything presented. I keep coming back to one question and that is what do we want the future of Moreno Valley to look like? I look at you guys and I know a lot of you guys do not live in this place. because you wouldn't be advocating for things like this. I'm so sorry. But tonight we have heard about landscaping. We have seen the pictures and how attractive the development could be. We've heard about outreach and that there are very few residents from the neighboring town, town homes that participated. But a project can be beautiful and still be the wrong use for a particular piece of land. A lack of participation does not automatically mean community support. We know that. People are commuting from work. So we make decisions today that will shape Moreno Valley for decades. Land is the only thing that, one thing that we can't create more of, Once we commit a valuable property to a particular use, especially a large storage facility, we may live with that decision for 20, 30, or 40 years. So I'm asking that you think beyond tonight. What does Moreno Valley need for its future? Our residents want quality restaurants. We want retail. We want entertainment. We want services. We want businesses that create jobs. I remember them saying, someone asked them, how many people are going to... you know, can work in that facility. I remember them saying up to two up, up to two. I remember I'm like up to two. What does that mean? But I think I know what it means. We already have storage facilities. At some point, we have to be willing to say we can do better with this land. We've already heard tonight that they're going to get $250,000. I appreciate anyone willing to invest in Marina Valley, but I have to ask, what is $250,000 have to do with whether this is the right land use? If this was not the right land use when the planning commission denied it in June or voted 3-2, a financial contribution should not be what changes the answer. The $250,000 can be spent. This land cannot be replaced. This isn't about being anti-business. I want businesses. I want businesses to come to Moreno Valley. I want us to be intentional about the business we attract in the city we are building. Every time we approve development, we're telling future developments what we believe Moreno Valley is worth. Thank you.

Thank you.

The next three speakers are Louise Palomares, followed by Roy Blackard, followed by Tatiana Flores.

Can I take this one because I need to step out for a minute? Can I just? I think Louise will let me go. Okay, that's fine. Okay. Normally, when it came to the Planning Commission, I wasn't even concerned. I figured it would be like a slam dunk project. But a couple of things that concern me, what I heard tonight, and kind of struck me, is the gentleman that came up here and said there's no legal basis for denying this. Maybe my understanding is not right, but I think it needs to be crystal clear. Isn't a conditional use permit a discretionary decision of the Council or the Planning Commission? Whether the community wants it or not, but it's not like this was, that if you pass, if you deny this project, then they can sue under because it was zoned for that. Well, technically it is, but it requires a separate step, like we did with the marijuana dispensaries. Even though they were zoned for that, they had to go through a CUP process, which the council had their discretion to approve or deny. So, and again, I've said I'm comfortable with any decision you make as long as you're making it on complete and accurate information, and that is presented to you as a council. And when I see that, you know, that just makes me take a step back or two on this. And like the $250,000, that kind of strikes me because If that was an offer or if that was proffered at the Planning Commission, that to me would have been a legitimate offer. After it was denied there, then to come back with something like this from a big corporation, I will say this, the reason I have a concern about that is that sets Marina Valley looking like if they accept that it is pay to play in this area. If you're a big corporation or come in and you already do, you come in and pay it off. Well, you'll get your project passed. But how many other businesses are not going to come into this community if they think that's going to be the process when it comes in? So be very careful on how the effects of that, remember Royism 101, static analysis will kill you 98.7% of the time. So there's a lot of factors coming in, but again, if that's not correct or the complete information that's coming up, then that needs to be presented and clarified before the council. I mean, as far as I know, it is a decision of the planning commission taking into account what all the community said. it may be a good project you're probably you know in other circumstances it probably would be absolutely fantastic but these other factors coming in make me want to question what is really going on here and should we let this happen in our city thank you

The next two speakers are Luis Palomares, followed by Tatiana Flores.

Luis Palomares, Community Activist. Wow, where's our mayor? He's missing in action today. Is he texting half of yous up there? Maybe, maybe not. The kangaroo rat, the kangaroo mayor rat right here. He's not here today. He should be here. He left you guys on the Titanic, making a decision like this, which is not an easy one to make. That's how he does. He ducks out on you when the going gets tough. He should have been here today or he should have been tuning in because when he's out of town and he wants to be in a meeting that's not controversial, he'll make sure he tunes in. He'll come in on the screen. What's really going on around here? Yeah, action-packed meeting with no action-packed mayor. He left you all hanging. Good luck. And as far as another thing about this, they were talking about the planning commission. And, you know, it came to you. They appealed it. Okay, here we are. So what Roy was saying, I agree with everything. Almost everything he's saying. What about the general plan? Is this in the general plan somewhere? What's really going on here? So you got a hard decision today. Mayor, I'll call you the mayor. Mayor, sit on the mayor's seat better yet. Are you afraid? It's not a holy seat. You could sit there. You know, Gonzalez, you could sit there. You know, so Mayor Gonzales today, I guess, is gonna hang on you, see what happens here, you know, because our mayor don't want to be right here right now in the middle of this right now. It's a campaign season. God help us. And another thing I was gonna say about the churches. We need to help out the churches here in the community. We need to help out the churches in our community. Thank you.

The next speaker is Tatiana Flores.

Good evening, once again, Tatiana here. I know I'm known as like an environmentalist and everything, but a lot of my opposition to this project actually has nothing to do with the environment. I'm really speaking as a young person here in the city. As they mentioned in their presentation, the population here is growing. We're the second largest city here in Riverside County, and yeah we're a city full of commuters we're a city full of young people that really want to just leave to another city with more opportunities fun things to do that sort of thing so that's why i'm here and that's why i have called for in the past for more creativity from you know developers we have to demand more from them they just want to build the easiest project they can build and yes like this is um it fits the zoning but so do so many other things this is mixed use you can build third spaces like mares was mentioning earlier um i you know have lived here for many years and i still find myself going to like riverside or redlands um to go and join myself and this is coming from like someone who actually goes to the library here and everything to you know talk to people and like read and you know i just it's not an environmental concern honestly like I just want young people to have stuff to do. I want older people to have stuff to do. I want people to have stuff to do here. I don't see what fun I would have at a self-storage, personally. I know that's not the point of it, but essentially, I'm just here to let you know that once something is built, like Maris was saying, it's there. You can't really get rid of it unless you want to demolish it. And then it's like, then why was it built in the first place? So this is why I also call for like meaningful planning. Like we have all these plans to, you know, have a downtown area near Alessandro in the future. So why don't we already commit to that and demand these developers to build something mixed use that is also good for the community? It would be good for them as well, you know, like, yeah, I don't know. Thanks.

Next speaker is Bob Palomares.

What do you mean again? I don't know how many times I come to Planning Commission meetings or here, and we always hear on projects like this or gas stations, why don't we put something else? Well, you know, that's true. Why don't we put something else? I think part of the problem is we're lacking leadership here. That we don't have a staff that is going out there and beating the bushes to bring these businesses, high quality restaurants, stores. You know, and I don't blame these people for wanting to put that, because who else has come? Who else is in front of them or behind them? Well, we've got a choice. We don't have a choice. So I can't blame them. I'm not for it or against it. I put everything on the city staff. Whoever's the one that's in charge of, who do we got coming in? Well, we got the storage facility. Who else? There's no one else. Well, then let them apply. You know, so unless you get busy and go out there and look for these businesses and restaurants, you know, you ain't going to have nothing but this. So don't cry if, you know, when it comes. Be here every council meeting and planning commission meeting and demand it. Thank you.

Thank you. I now invite the applicant if they want to have a rebuttal on these comments.

Honorable council members, thank you for giving me this opportunity to rebut a few of those comments. I do appreciate everyone showing the passion and enthusiasm for public comment, both in support and in opposition and neutral. We welcome all of those comments. And I just wanted to say that in terms of the project and the fact that they there was one public comment that there were changes in the project from planning commission to city council that is absolutely not true there have been no changes in the project your planning staff worked with public storage for the two-year process and they really refined that design what you saw tonight has not changed since planning commission. So that's number one. In terms of the comments regarding detrimental impacts, those can typically be something you consider unless there are facts that contradict those comments. So we're asking you tonight to reverse the Planning Commission decision because those comments were unsupported. They had no technical backing. And you have everything in your record that contradicts all those comments. In terms of the diesel generators, there is no diesel utilized by public storage. The nature of the CUP, yes, it's discretionary. But that's why you go through this process, this two-year process that public storage went through. is to identify if there are any adverse impacts. That's what CEQA demands, that's what your process demands, and there were no adverse impacts. That's why the city is able to adopt an MND, a Mitigated Negative Declaration, and you can move forward knowing that there are no significant impacts pursuant to CEQA. What we have today is a vacant land that's been vacant for a long time. Market conditions have dictated that there are no other uses that have been proposed for this site. We think this will be a beneficial project for the city of Moreno Valley, and we really respectfully ask that you overturn the planning commission decision that was unsupported by technical evidence. So thank you very much.

Thank you. That concludes all public comment. I'll close the public hearing.

Council, if I may give just two points of clarification. Of course. First, these are both procedural. Regarding the city council as the body, the city council is the city body that hears appeals. The hearing is de novo, which means that the city council reviewing the application anew and secondly regarding the donation consideration of whether to accept the applicant's donation is separate from the City Council's consideration of the appeal and whether to approve or deny the project.

Thank you for that clarification.

Can the applicant come back up, please? Because the applicant just said something that kind of piqued my interest. Thank you again for being here and presenting the project. But at the end of your statement right now, you said something to the effect of, There are no other, it's either market rate or no other things that can be used for this based on whatever the market dictates. Can you kind of clarify what that means exactly? That the only usage that you see for it is storage. Yeah, can you explain that please?

Public storage itself is in the business of providing storage facilities, owning and operating them. The land site that we are proposing the development on is a privately owned land site that we are under contract to purchase with a private owner that is agreeing to sell the land site to public storage. As far as market demand goes for storage facilities, As I mentioned kind of earlier in my remarks, we look at population within a trade area, and the trade area typically for a specific facility is a three-mile radius. We look at positive population growth, which this location has, and the total population, and then we look at existing storage facilities. And those existing storage facilities are typically divided into two categories. non-climate controlled and climate controlled. Non-climate controlled storage facilities are typically older, like your single story drive up, you roll up a door to pull into your storage facility type unit. Climate controlled facilities are typically newer that are all interior access. They can be up to three stories. And in this particular trade area, there's very little of climate controlled facilities. The older non climate control facilities also within this vicinity are at high occupancy. So the facility just to the north of us that we acquired recently is at 90% occupancy. So what that tells us is with high occupancy, positive population growth, low existing climate controlled self storage facilities within the trade area, there's a demand for climate controlled storage, which is why we're making the business decision to propose a facility at this location.

And I did hear when you said that it wasn't going to be diesel generated. So then how exactly would you do the climate control? Like, what would you guys do to do that part of the project?

Yeah, so the climate control is HVAC, heat pump, air conditioner systems. It's typical to what you would have on a single family home where you have a condenser unit and then you have like an air handler unit within the interior of the building that provides the the cold refrigerated air and the the building is kept to like a moderate type temperature uh usually set at like 70 75 degrees in the interior and that's constant the building uses all electric type source there's no there's we don't use natural gas there's no diesel generator or anything like that it's all electric source

OK. Thank you for that.

Any other questions? No? OK. So now we move to council deliberation, if warranted, or a motion.

Do we close the public hearing? Okay. So tonight at the beginning of the meeting there was a pastor that prayed for us and what he said was pray that THAT WE MAKE TOUGH DECISIONS BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HE PRAYED OVER THESE TOUGH DECISIONS THAT WE'RE REQUIRED TO MAKE UP HERE. THESE ARE TOUGH DECISIONS BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BALANCE THE LAW. WE HAVE TO BALANCE CITY PROCESSES. WE HAVE TO BALANCE OUR OWN PERMITTED USE TABLES THAT WE'VE CREATED YEARS AGO THAT WE HAVEN'T CHANGED. WE HAVE TO BALANCE CITY CODE which the city code regulations which include the heights and you know the colors and all that stuff with public comments the neighbors that live around these projects and the businesses that are around these projects so yes these are tough decisions it's not that we just we want these because we live next door or we don't want them because we don't live next door we have to consider everything but overall our job is to number one, keep the city out of trouble and make good, tough decisions for the city of Myrna Valley as a whole. So I think that this, I don't, I wasn't at the planning commission meeting, but I was briefed on it. And we certainly, have a tougher job than the planning commission. The planning commission is a advisory, if I'm wrong, Brian, that's an advisory committee commission. We are the decision makers when we hear the appeals. So we do have a tough job, and the job is to make the decisions for the city that's going to keep us out of trouble, obviously, and develop our city. I think that this is not necessarily like a warehouse. And I know that Tatiana said that this is not something that she's considering environmentally unfriendly. So there's a lot that we consider up here. We listen to everybody's testimony. We listen to the applicant. And I think that, like one of the speakers said, it's in their neighborhood and they want it. was no opposition to it so i think it's it's a good project for that area but i do agree with mr palomares that we would love to have more options and it's not on city staff it's just the way that it's presented to city staff if a business comes to us and well this lot's been empty for since 1900 or forever it's it's undeveloped um We have to consider it. And here we are considering this project that these people, these folks that own the land want to build on it. So, you know, that's my two cents, Mayor Pro Tem.

Mayor Pro Tem. Any other, Council Member Buckeyes?

Sure. I didn't watch the Planning Commission either, and it doesn't really matter because as we were instructed, this is a de novo, so we're to look at just what was presented to us today. The project that was presented to us today, it looks like it fits in the neighborhood. We had only one comment of all the outreach the company did. It was in person of one person that lives in the area, and they're for it. um although it's not in district one it's like on the line right right where district one and district three meet um i know that space it's you know right by the school district right by the park off of bay and it's a permitted use we make the rules on what businesses we're going to allow and if there's something that we don't want then we make the rules but not while we're considering an active project. So if at a later time we look at warehouses, public storages, car washes, McDonald's, or even gas stations, if we're saying that's enough, that's something we take up at that time by policy. So right now, this isn't allowed use. It fits all of the categories all of the rules and steps and hoops that we put up for which there's a lot for our business owners here and for them to follow and if they follow all the rules and check all the boxes then we welcome them and for that reason I see no reason to deny this project as presented tonight.

Just really quick because this, and I'm addressing this to city manager, this conditional uses permit keeps coming up. Can you please explain why we give conditional uses permits, why it was applied in this project?

Yes, Councilmember. So in our Municipal Code, Title IX or Chapter IX deals with planning and zoning and specifically permitted use tables is 9.02.020 and what it does is it leaks the various uses to the actual zones. And so when the general plan was being put together, you link certain usage, and there's a multitude of uses on the uses permitted table, but you link them to certain zones from a zoning perspective. So this particular project for clarity is properly zoned and properly permitted. But the reason why a CUP is needed is so that staff can work with the developer and when certain conditions are right, and in this case, because of the close proximity to residential, you have a CUP process that gives additional transparency to the residents, additional transparency to the community, additional hoops that the developer needs needs to go through to ensure that not only does it fit the permitted uses table, the zoning, but it also fits the community beliefs for those community residents that live within a 600 foot radius in this particular case. And so that is why a lot of times you will hear, or Planning Commission will hear, that the permitted use is available and allowed, it is properly zoned, but it's being taken up under a conditional use permit because certain criteria as directed on all of the various notes and criterion on the permitted use table in 9.02 0.020 states a conditional use permit is needed. It gives additional clarity to the projects. Did that answer your question, Councilmember?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

I just want to make my comments on this project. So my vote will be yes to approve this project. I'm going to say why. As my colleagues have mentioned, it meets... everything in our land use and zoning. They've gone through the process for two years working with city staff and gotten various input just from different, our process and the requirements of our municipal code, studies, and many of the developer's analysis and everything they've gone through with the city. However, even though I'm okay with this project at this location at this time, there's a but to it. The but to it is that In the future, hopefully in October, we sit down and look at our use tables and make sure that these uses are reflecting a lot of the things that are our community values. So based on the findings, my vote will be a yes. So with that, I call for a motion to approve the appeal. Is that the correct order? I'm looking to...

So I'm on motion to adopt, is it the second one, right? Adopt resolution. approving and adopting the initial study mitigated neg declaration and the mitigation monitoring and reporting programs prepared for the proposed project and adopt resolution number two 2026 in order approving conditional use permit based on the recitals evidence contained in the administrative records and finding as set forth in the resolution I'll second Please go for the vote Thank You councilmember Bernard no Councilmember Delgado.

Yes, I

Council Member Baca-Santa Cruz? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez?

Yes.

Thank you.

Council, if you're inclined to accept the donation, our office recommends that you make a separate motion regarding that item.

But also that motion is irregardless to the previous motion and Council does not need to accept that for this particular project.

So we make a motion either to accept or not accept?

I make a motion to accept the community benefit donation of $250,000 from public storage. Can I comment first? Of course.

Yes, please. Okay, so there's a motion on the table, but I want to say that I didn't know that this $250,000 was even part of the process. We read the the the whole entire um application staff report and then we make a decision on this this was told to us that oh by the way they're offering 250 000 for so it is not in my opinion for me it is not a pay to play for sure for our city because that was not part of um the decision-making process for this project the project on itself was presented and asked us to either deny or uphold the Planning Commission's denial or approve them moving forward and the $250,000 was not even part of that that thought process for us or for me anyway, so I just want to if we do if we do accept it It's to better the city and to put it to good use versus we just approved it. So if we took $250,000 and put it in our community benefit foundation fund, we can do some good with it. So I mean, I just want to make sure that it is known that this is not a pay to play. This is something that came up after we were briefed on this actual project.

Yeah, that's why it's a separate action.

right so it has nothing to do with the decision that was made first absolutely and i just wanted to make it make it known so are you going to second the motion i'll second the motion thank you council member bernard now council member dolgado yes council member buck santa cruz This is to accept them because it's not written here.

It says not to approve the conditional use permit.

Yes?

Okay. Yes. Okay. So.

Yes, for the record, based on the motion and the second. Okay, I approve the motion.

Yes, for the motion. Not for where it's on my screen.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez?

No.

Thank you.

Will I need to come back since I didn't pass?

So with 2-2 the motion does not move and at this point unless there is a motion from council to bring this back under a separate action then at this point the item the project itself is approved but the 250 is not approved and does not move.

This $250,000 community benefit, what are the types of programs that are run through community benefit through the foundation?

Yeah, so as the community foundation would be the acceptance of this donation, what is funded out of that particular fund are the four CBOs that are funded through by council. Community-based organizations. Sorry, community-based organizations that are funded in the tune of those four. It would be, I believe it's the $280,000 per year. Those are Building Up Lives Foundation, Power Speaks Louder, Inland Compassion, and the Hole in Wall. It also then, that particular fund funds the MoVal Learns, which is $100,000 to 50 students. It provides them a stipend for eight months while they're attending school. It's basically the earn while you learn concept. A lot of our students either have to make a decision as to whether or not they go to work to help support their families or they go to school. And so this $100,000 gives them the capability to go to school. We also run the $40,000 Promise Program out of the foundation. That also is a program with the college, and that pays for the various fees and so forth to allow individuals to go to college. There are some other summer intern programs and so forth.

The youth program through the boxing gym as well, right? IS IT?

THIS IS, YES. NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT NEW PROGRAM, IT IS FUNDED THROUGH RGBA OR ROBERT GARCIA BOXING ACADEMY IS FUNDED THROUGH THE FOUNDATION AS WELL.

OKAY. SO THEN I MAKE A MOTION TO BRING THIS ITEM BACK TO A FUTURE AGENDA WHEN THE FULL COUNCIL IS PRESENT.

Council Member Bernard? Yes. Council Member Delgado?

Yes.

Council Member Pocasana-Cruz? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you. I have a speaker card and pursuant to Council Rules of Procedure 2.2.2. I'd like to be recognized.

It's closed. The public comments are closed. We'll take a break and review that. Thank you. Welcome back to our early scheduled meeting. And we have a question from...

Yes.

Oh, I'm sorry.

As a point of clarification, City Attorney's Office reviewed the applicable rule of procedure. So from the Moreno Valley Council Rules of Procedure, Rule 2.2.6, addressing the City Council after public comment period, After the public period has been conducted for any agenda item, no member of the public shall address the city council without first obtaining permission by a majority vote of the city council after an appropriate motion and second. Any request for such permissions shall be submitted in writing to the bailiff or to the city clerk who shall deliver the request to the presiding officer in a manner least disruptive to the proceedings underway. So a member of the public can submit the request to the city clerk, which you can then review and choose to make a motion to accept to hear his public comments. A note, the public hearing on the item that was previously for the city council is closed, so it will be a standalone public comment.

So we have to accept that speaker slip pretty much as a body, is that correct?

You're accepting the request to make a public comment outside of public comment period and then you'll review that request and you can make a motion and a second to vote on and see whether a majority of the city council will allow him to make his public comment.

Got it. So first we'll accept that request.

Yes.

And Mayor Pro Tem, council members, just for a point of additional clarification, the Moreno Valley Council Rules of Procedures is our policy 1.01 and this is section 2.2.6 of policy 1.01. Thank you.

I have a question. The public comment is on which item? Coming up or something we already covered?

This is the last two motions, I guess.

The item we already closed? Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

So that we... Yeah, you'll have to vote to ask whether or not you want to hear it.

Okay. Is there a motion to accept, we're gonna vote to accept the request of public comment, yes or no?

SO WE NEED A MOTION AND A SECOND. A MOVER AND A SECONDER TO ALLOW THIS PUBLIC COMMENT.

BEFORE WE DO THE MOTION, HAS THE CITY CLERK ACCEPTED HIS REQUEST TO MAKE THE PUBLIC COMMENT?

YES, WE HAVE HIS REQUEST. THANK YOU.

A motion is made to accept the public comment. Is it just moot?

Okay.

Are there any motions? No motion. I think the move on on the agenda.

Thank you. So we're moving on to General Business L. This is Office of the Mayor and City Council Sponsorship Program. And it's a report of City Clerk. And there will be a staff report by City Clerk Patty Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp and Council. I would like to call up Jasmine Rivera, who will be presenting tonight's staff report.

Hi, Jasmine.

Hi, good evening. Honorable Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez and members of the city council. My name is Jasmine. I'm the executive assistant to the mayor and council office. Tonight I'm presenting the fiscal year 2026 2027 mayor and city council sponsorship program. staff recommends approval of the program in the amount of $60,000. The program continues support for established annual events historically sponsored by the city, while also providing funding for community organizations serving Moreno Valley residents. Mayor Cabrera and Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez proposed the recipient list and funding amounts. The program includes six one-time annual events and 17 community organizations. The full $60,000 is already included in the approved budget. Therefore, there is no additional cost to the city. This year's recommendation adjusted recipient allocations with an emphasis on food assistance. Together, the proposed allocation support free community events, food access, youth development, mental and behavioral health, immigration services, veteran services, and other community-based programs. Staff recommends approval of the fiscal year 2026-27 mayor and city council sponsorship program in the amount of $60,000. That concludes my report. I'm available for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Jasmine. Is there any council questions of staff? the comment i think you did a really good job thank you so much for your presentation i appreciate you thank you okay for item l1 we will now be taking public comments in the order they're received whether in person by phone or virtual do we have any speakers we do mayor pro temp the first speaker is david rivera

Good evening, City Council and Mayor Pro Tem. My name is David Rivera. No relation to Jasmine. I'm from Oasis Community Church. And we were recipients of some of the sponsorship funding that was approved last year. And we wanted to report on how some of that funding contributed to the food pantry that we have at Oasis Community Church. But first, we want to thank God for the opportunity of being a member of this community for the past 30 years, being able to work with other faith-based organizations and with other partners in the community to be able to service the residents here in Moreno Valley. We also want to thank the city council for the $1,250 that were given to us to be able to aid the food pantry at Oasis Community Church. With me this evening is Mr. and Mrs. Marquez, who actually lead the ministry for us at the church. And so I thought it was important they'd be here as well. Each week, the church receives food donations from church members and from some of our community partners, such as Trader Joe's, Sandals Food Ministry, March Air Base Commissary, Steerenstein, Beacon Hill, Della Bread, the Stomp Out Hunger event that happens with the U.S. Postal Service annually. And throughout the week, we're collecting perishable and non-perishable food items that we store in our pantry. And then on Saturday mornings, we open up our doors to all the members of the community to come and be able to collect food items as they need. During the summertime, we have the AC on to make it nice and cool. And during the wintertime, we have the heater on so that's a comfortable temperature for the residents of the city to come in and be able to enjoy some time there. While they're there, we give them coffee, we give them donuts, we just fellowship with them, we talk with them, we pray with them. We let them know that we care about them and we get the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Then on Saturday mornings, as they come through, we allow them to go through the line and they pick groceries as they need. Once they've gone through at least once, we ask them to go through a second time because it's our goal that all the food that we have there each week goes to the residents. We trust that God will fill that pantry up for next week's events as well. Throughout the year, Oasis Community Church Food Pantry was able to distribute over 107,000 pounds of food to the community. Over 200 families come and get food from us. Over 59,000 meals were provided, and every family leaves with about 30 pounds of food weekly for them to be able to support their families. I'd like to just ask Ed to be able to share a few more comments on that.

My wife and I would just like to thank the mayor and the council. And in addition to what Pastor David shared, we also provide a hot meal on the last Saturday of each month. And we give out gently used clothes. We also provide food baskets at Thanksgiving. We have a pre-Thanksgiving meal and a pre-Christmas meal. And it brings joy.

Hold on, hold on. Ed, sir, can he get his own time?

Oh, I'm sorry.

What is your name so that we could put your name, sir?

My name is Ed.

Please give him his three minutes.

Okay, go ahead, Mr. Edward Marquez. You have three minutes now to speak.

Excuse me. Okay. In addition to what Pastor David said, we also provide a hot meal every fourth Saturday of the month, and we pass out gently used clothes. And we also provide what's called sharing and scaring. We provide Thanksgiving boxes with a turkey and four trimmings. And also we have a pre-Thanksgiving meal and a pre-Christmas meal, which we serve hundreds. And my wife and I, it brings us joy to serve the community. And we're thankful for the donation you gave us. We appreciate it. And we just want to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I just wanted to add, because of this pantry that's open in the church, what it does for the community, that I feel part of the community and I feel blessed. I feel that the community now trusts me and I feel like I have purpose in my life. Today I have 11 years sober and clean because of these pantries where I have a place where I can do something with my life. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, David.

And next speaker is Roy Blackard.

correct me if I'm wrong, but did I hear that that was the mayor and the mayor pro tem put this list together? Was there any consideration from the other three council members or districts or what is this exactly going through? And I don't, you know, not disparaging, I'm sure the folks that came up there doing it, you know, at a, you know, for a very divine purpose. But Again, was there any consideration given or why is this stuff coming up? This and maybe the previous issue that this is what causes a lot of the angst, I believe, in the community. Because we're not seeing, okay, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, this is who's getting, is this organization getting everything or is there more? Because you said it's going, I heard a bunch of different areas it was going to. So it was kind of confusing the way it was laid out i think we need more clarification and i mean you know you've heard my very pleasant voice come up and say that a lot of times but we look at this stuff and we're like coming out of here like what the heck is going on and if we if we sharpened up our game a little bit i think we would at least from my standpoint at least i'd have more clarity what is putting proposed in front of you and where the vote goes. And I think if we had that, you'd probably see me more effervescent when I come up here. I know Shay would appreciate that. So, again, it's not that, and I'm not even saying there isn't, but here's the example. When you hear, oh, the mayor and the mayor pro tem put these things out there, people are going to say, well, why is it there's something in Ed's district or Elena's or Shea's? And then it starts this back and forth and all what we see. So, again, I'd like to hear before you vote on it, exactly where this money is all going and is it just going to one organization or 152 and why and how this decision process came to be about on this sponsorship deal. Because again, the way it was presented, let's say left a lot of questions. So maybe we could answer those before you make the vote. So you're making the vote on complete and accurate information.

The next two speakers are Louise Palomares followed by Bob Palomares.

These Palomares. Hey, Gonzalez. I knew you were a fool, but I didn't know that much of a fool. $250,000? Come on. This could have been here for the churches. I'm on another lane right here. On the last item. Okay, also... two million dollars two million dollars how much we gave to these these programs and we're supporting instead of giving them 1200 this much uh 1500 you're spreading the wealth so narrow but with the two million dollars we could have built the church for some of these fellows out here wow We got to take care of our churches, like I said. We got to amp it up and give them more money because we waste so much on flock cameras, $2 million lawsuits, all the mayor's pet projects. And it's so convenient he's not here today. Wow. He's got you doing his dirty work, carrying his water, Gonzalez, today. Really, really, really. And yeah, we got enough in this community to do better for our churches here. That's a labor of love that they're doing. That's what they're doing. And me, hey, I'm all about the church. And this is my labor of love. Talking to people and informing them and telling them what's going on in our community. Because I don't think these fellows knew that $2 million of a lawsuit. that the mayor cost us the city, and we're still gonna identify him in federal court in LA. That's a lot of money. And he always picks his little pet projects. I'm not talking about the church here, I'm talking about all his stuff. You know, when they're doing the presentations before the council meeting starts, he never lets Elena announce anything, never ever. That's how small he is. He can't be bigger than that. It always has to be about what he wants and what he's doing and what he cares about. Like he gave the boxing people. That's in another lane, but he gave them 49,000. Those are his pals. Those are his pals. He picks and chooses who he wants to give to. But the churches, 1,200, 1,500. What about we giving them 49,000 four times already? What about that? It's a sad day in Marina Valley that we got a mayor like this, but he goes lobbying all the churches. What a great guy he is. Like the angel of light that he really isn't. They don't know the real facts. They don't know the darn real truth of the matter. Because they don't got the time to be here in a council meeting for three and a half hours because the mayor got all this stuff he wants. The Hall of Fame. I call it the Hall of Shame. The Hall of Fame. You want to put a Hall of Fame. He wanted to put a donkey behind us right there on that little mountain there. A donkey. We're not the city of jackasses. Come on. Come on, a donkey? I'm all about the donkeys. Hey, Jesus came in on a donkey. But that ain't the point. The point is give back. Give them more. Come on, Gonzales, man up. You know, give them.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Bob Palomares.

Good evening again. I THINK YOU SHOULD INCREASE THAT 60,000. IF YOU WANT YOUR BLESSINGS, BLESS THEM MORE. AND BELIEVE ME, YOU'LL GET IT. I'M WAITING FOR THE METRICS ON NOTHING AGAINST ROBERT GARCIA AND THAT BOXING ACADEMY. IT'S ABSOLUTELY GREAT. BUT, YOU KNOW, WE PLAY BY RULES HERE, SUPPOSEDLY. AND I HAVEN'T HEARD HIM. IT'S ALREADY BEEN MONTHS. BUT GOING BACK TO THIS, YOU KNOW, CABRERO FROM AS FAR AS I CAN REMEMBER WHEN HE CAME INTO THE CITY COUNCIL, THIS IS THE WAY AS HE WENT ALONG THROUGH THE YEARS, THIS IS THE WAY I SEEN HIM. HE'S LIKE THE GUY THAT SEEN AN ADVERTISEMENT WERE TAKING BIDS ON BUILDING THIS. SO HERE HE COMES. And he says, I wonder, wow, we're taking three bids. We already got two. We've got one fella that came up and said, I'll build it for 3,000. Mexican fella. I'll build it for 3,000. The next fella comes, I'll build it for five. Wow, okay. Next, last bid. Here comes, blah, blah, blah. I'll build it for 10,000. He goes over. Why so much? He goes, well, three for me, four for you, and three you get the Mexican to do it.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Christopher Baca.

Again, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything negative on giving to the churches. It should be. But why are we doing this right before an election? That's absolutely a no-no. And I don't think this should pass right now. Just table it. And like the Paul Mars is to say, give them more. But not right now. Not right now. Because it's going to be announced. At every service from now until the election that the mayor made a wonderful donation to that church. And that's a subliminal way of getting votes. So I'm totally opposed to this. Why now? especially right before an election this is wrong and it should not happen it's the same thing with the developers interfering in the election campaigning donations for all of all other um um campaigns like uh school board members you know but that's a donation by proxy because that in turn that um school board member got a donation from say highland fairview and then highland fairview encourages them to vote for you know i'm not saying cabrera's highland fairview um crony might be but he's a closet one and closet i emphasize um That, uh, he will, uh, uh, by proxy, get those, those votes. So as far as, uh, the separation of church and state again, it's wrong. It should always be done. Not during an election. You had all year to do this. You had other processes to do this. Why now? I don't think it's right. And I really don't think you should vote for this. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Temp, that completes testimony for this item.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Any council deliberation on this item?

Okay. I kind of just want to explain this. So this is for the fiscal year 26, 2027. This happens every year around this time. It happened when when Councilmember Delgado was Pro Tem, when I was Pro Tem, when Councilmember Baca-Santa Cruz was Pro Tem. This is a program that happens all the time where it's $60,000, and it's not just the church. They're the only ones that probably stayed because it's a little late, so there were probably others. But just to give you all some ideas, normally we do have them here, but that's why I'm thinking maybe it's a little late. But there's... the Wind Symphony, the annual award ceremony. We do the Jamil Dada Character of Excellence Youth Awards, Pinwheels Prevention, Festival of Trees, Generations Church Community Food Assistance Program, Crossword Christian Church. We have I Can Soar, Imani of Praise, Inland Coalition of Immigrant Injustice, Muslim Family Foundation, Moreno Valley Trail Seekers. We have Moreno Valley College Monty's Market, Rising Stars Business Academy, St. Parrish. You also have the Student of the Month Program with Moreno Valley and Val Verde, Training, Occupational Development, Educating Communities. So there's a number of programs or organizations that are involved in this, most of them are food pantry programs, and it totals out to $60,000 a year. And so I did hear someone mention Robert Garcia's boxing. That is a separate program that we have that is separate from this. So I just kind of want to give the clarification that it's not that Mayor Pro Tem and the mayor did this and nobody else has done it. All of us up here that have ever been pro tem have done this at some point. So I just want to make sure that that's clear. Also, in the staff report, all of the proposed contributions are in there. I know that Ms. Rivera came up here and she did present, but she just did not present all of them. And so all of them are included there, including how much each organization is getting, and where it's going and who it's to. So I just want to make sure that this is just something normal that we do for every year. This is just for the 26-27 sponsorship for this fiscal year.

I was going to say the same thing that when I was mayor pro tem I also worked on this project and it's the reason it's just the two is because you're discussing something that's going to be coming to us to vote on so it's like a subcommittee of the council that does it and traditionally it's been the mayor and the mayor pro tem. Other organizations that are on here are Destiny Care Foundation, who provides hospice care in the city, and Edgemont Women's Club in Box Springs over here in Edgemont, and Marina Valley Trail Seekers, and then the Monty's Market is at the college, and it provides for basic needs. Students are allowed to come and pick up, I think, eight items a day. So this money, it's not a lot, the $60,000, I heard some of you, but it's what we put aside for this, and we stretch it, and the organizations that we work with really stretch this out, and it's really good to see you, and I know it's late, so thank you, Oasis, for staying, and I really hope, I know that you're going to do well, good with this money for our community, so... I support the sponsorships. The only question I had is last year we did have TODEC on here and I noticed that they are not here. Did you pull them off?

No, I didn't see TODEC.

They were here last year, right? Miss Rivera?

TODEC has returned.

Oh, they're on here? Oh, it's the training, oh, they, oh. No acronym. No acronym. Didn't even know what it stood for all these years. Okay, perfect, good to see them on there. Perfect, because we had a discussion earlier and she said they weren't on there. Okay.

David, since you're the only one that stuck around to comment on this, I've been to your church and thank you guys for doing it. And your wife, thank you guys for doing what you do for our community and all of these businesses out there that are doing God's work for our community. So thank you very much. And props to you guys.

And also I wanted to say that we do this annually, so there's no funding left for this year. But if you are a church or an entity that would like to apply, the application for this sponsorship is also in the staff report of this item.

Thank you, customer. And also, I just want to add a lot of these organizations are are cover the city of Runa Valley in different districts. So it's not just anyone or the other. Sorry.

I apologize. If I may, a point of clarification, there is no application process for this particular item. It's covered in the staff report under policy 2.13. In short, the reason an application is not required is because it's already pre-budgeted, therefore selected by the mayor and mayor pro temp for the council's consideration.

The sponsorship application request, local events, regional events in the packet.

That is, there is an available means to submit an application to the city manager's office, but it's not a part of this staff report.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion? All motion to approve.

Second.

Please call for the vote.

Thank you. Council Member Bernard? Yes. Council Member Delgado?

Yes.

Council Member Box-Santa Cruz? Yes. And Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez? Yes. Thank you.

Now moving on to item M, Regional Commission Committee Board Reports. First one up is March Joint Powers Commission, Councilmember Delgado.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Tonight I'm providing an update from the March Joint Powers Commission special meeting that was held on August 26th, 2026. The commission voted to send a letter to March 1 LLC denying their demand that the authority cure and correct an alleged violation of the Brown Act identified in a July 30, 2026 letter received from March 1 LLC. That concludes my update of the August 26th, 2026 March Joint Powers Commission special meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Now moving to M4, Riverside Transit Agency, Board of Directors, RTA, Council Member Bernard.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez. Tonight, I'm providing updates for the Riverside Transit Agency Board of Directors meeting held on August 27th. The board presented a proclamation to staff members who assisted with the FIFA World Cup service. The board also received a presentation regarding Convo Access, an innovative digital interpretation tool designed to improve accessibility for transit riders who are deaf or hard of hearing. The technology allows passengers to instantly connect with a live American Sign Language interpreter by scanning a QR code with their mobile phones. Additionally, staff is assessing the potential launch of an accessible transit tactile and Braille pilot program. Lastly, the board approved awarding a contract to R.O. Bus Sales. to purchase 10 low floor vans for the agency's dial-a-ride operations to replace the buses that have exceeded their useful service life. The next board meeting is scheduled for September 17th, and that concludes my report on the last Riverside Transit Agency Board of Directors meeting.

Now move on to item N, employee association reports.

There are none.

Okay, moving along to item O, city manager report.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. Just want to go over three things. Two are redundant from what we previously stated, but next Tuesday, September 8th, we will be having a study session in this particular room to discuss data centers. On September 15th, we will also be having our special event celebrating El Grito. So I do welcome all of our residents to come here to City Hall campus to our amphitheater behind our CRC and participate in that event with us from 6 to 10 in the evening. Oh, the CRC, sorry. Somebody just asked what is the CRC. The Conference and Rec Center. Sorry, a lot of us speak in tongue and we're trying to do better to speak so that our residents can understand us. October 13th, I do want to remind residents that we will be having a study session on industrial and manufacturing uses. VACANCIES AND THEN THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ITEM DISCUSSING OTHER USES, A LOT OF THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED RECENTLY HERE AND IN PLANNING COMMISSION. SO DO INVITE ALL OF YOU TO PARTICIPATE IN THOSE STUDY SESSIONS. WITH THAT, THAT CONCLUDES MY COMMENTS. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, BRIAN. NOW MOVING TO CITY COUNCIL CLOSING COMMENTS. COUNCILMAN BERNARD.

Thank you. I want to first remind everyone that Wednesday, September 16th, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center, we will be having our e-bikes, e-bike safety workshop. So please come out. Let's have some conversation, let's talk about it, let's talk about how we can make everyone safer. We know that more and more children and people in general are using e-bikes and so we just wanna make sure that information is out there. Also, I will always advertise any programs that are Parks and Recreation are doing. So the Little Sunshines program, I believe, starts this week, Friday. And it is for our special needs children between ages five to nine. And it's every Friday. It is roughly an hour and a half. I believe it starts at 530. And they must be accompanied by an adult. But please look to sign up for that. I really hope that it's something that we can expand upon. The community is... asking for this, and so we were able to provide that. And I also want to give a shout out to Parks and Recreation because while we were on summer recess, their season was ramping up, and so they have successfully carried us through MoVal Rocks, the movie, MoVal Movies. We did the Fourth of July. And so I'm pretty sure they would like to take a break, but they are not done because as city manager said, we have El Grito coming up. We have Day of the Dead coming. So we have a number of programs coming. And you should be seeing it coming out soon. But our Color Fun Run is coming up. And that will be November. Fourth. I'll be trying to help. It's OK. So while he looks that up, they also have a wonderful idea to continue. Oh, no. But before that, October 10th, 14th. There you go. There was a four included, though. So I was good there. There was a four. I just had to add 10 to it. But October 10th. We do have our day of service coming up also. So I just wanna make sure that you guys, we have a lot of things coming up and coming down the pipeline out here and a lot of things happening in the city of Moreno Valley. So please come out, support. And I will say as I end this with two and a half minutes left, Y'all be careful. I don't know what's going on. A lot of people are coming down sick. There was one child in one of my son's classes that was out for like a week. I had some people at my job that went down with COVID for about a week. So please, everybody, the weather is changing not fast enough for me. It's September 1st, so it's the Bird Month, so I'm excited. But please take care of yourselves. Please wash your hands. Get your flu shot if you do that. If you don't, that's fine too. More importantly, please wash your hands. Washing your hands is probably the best way to make sure that we're not spreading anything. And if you're sick, trust me, that job will survive because work will always be here. The work is the work. What won't survive is if you come to work sick and then you simultaneously start taking everybody out for the next few weeks. That's who will not, that's what won't survive. And so with that, I close and you all have a great evening. Cannot wait to see you all next week for our data center conversation here for the study session. And again, there are no data centers coming, but we do need to have the conversation in the interest of transparency for this community. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Bernardo, Council Member DeLgado.

I think that was a great meeting. I know that it's late. So my comments will be very short tonight. And I just want to say thank you to everybody that came out and talked and spoke on the projects and everything we have going on in the city. I do want to remind everybody to slow down and the folks that came out earlier this evening about the bikes and traffic safety. i know that we take that very very serious in marina valley so as these issues get brought to the city regarding bike lanes and bike safety and school school zone safety and uh we don't just brush it off like okay the public comments are over we actually look into it so we will be following up staff with staff regarding those issues so um just know that that we do care and we we do thank the public for coming in and talking about that stuff so um as far as schools coming back in i see my crossing guards all rock and rolling with umbrellas because of the heat they did not get a reprieve from the heat they were still out there escorting our kids so Please wave to them. At least acknowledge them. Hunk your horn. Let them know that they are important. I'm serious because it makes a difference. When you smile at them and wave to them, it makes a difference that it does. I'm telling you. Or even stop and get to know them. And then our teachers, welcome back to school. And I know that these little hot – days are almost behind us, but hang in there. We're looking for some cooler weather soon, and those kids are coming back from recess all hot and angry, so just hang in there. We feel you. Because we have to take them at home, right? And again, like I always close, you guys, please be kind to one another. Make an effort to be kind to someone this week, and it'll change you, I promise. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Delgado, Council Member Vargas-Santa Cruz.

I was going to invite everybody to the same events that Councilmember Bernard already invited everybody to. I was going to thank everybody for coming, like Councilmember Delgado, so I have nothing new to add. It's late.

She wanted to let everybody know that the Angels were sold by Artie Marino, so they have new ownership and they will be competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the Freeway World Series, I guess.

Yes, it's coming. Mark our words.

Thank you, same, just please come to our events. El Grito's coming up to celebrate Mexican heritage and also inviting the public to come to all of our study sessions that we'll be having. I know these uses that are uses are permitted uses, right, are hot topic right now. So please stop by our study sessions and provide your input. Because we need it to make sure that our city make sure it has that public input for us to make better decisions and for staff to update what they need to update. So with that... i end ah no no no i'm sorry we have our q future agenda items are there any future agenda items from mars no okay and are there any public comments on future agenda items no mayor pretend we do not have any public comments for this item with that we will close this at 9 45 p.m thank you everyone have a good night