City Council - Regular Meeting

No, no, no.

We are live, Your Honor.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As we start the meeting, let's start first with a roll call vote showing all council members are here other than Council Member Cantancio who will be joining us later this evening. Council Member Cantancio was absent this evening and she is attending a conference outside the area. Due to state regulations, noticing regulations, Council Member Cantancio will not participate. It's been called to allow Council Member Cantancio to participate remotely on certain items that also appear on tonight's regular City Council agenda. During the regular City Council meeting, the City Council will consider agenda items A through E. During the special City Council meeting, the Council will consider agenda items F through J. And just to give you a sense as to what F through J are, so you know that, Mr. City Manager, help me find F through J. In fact, Mr. City Manager, would you read off what F through J are?

Yes, good evening, Your Honor, members of the council, members of the public. The regular meeting this evening will consist of items A, roll call, B, presentations, one, proclamation for the Portuguese Fraternal Society, two, proclaiming Pride, excuse me, Disability Pride Month, three, State Route 84 intermodal bus facility project presentation, Item C, public comment. Item D, the consent calendar, which consists of items one through five, approval of the audit demands, approval of minutes, as well as four resolutions for spending funds on particular contracts and a JPA. And then E, the public hearings. We have three public hearings this evening. After that, the council will adjourn the meeting and then convene the special meeting and address items F, one, two, and three. F1 being the second amendment to the park agreement for FMC Willow. F2 being the affordable housing obligation satisfaction agreement for Willow and Harbor Point projects. And item F3 consideration of a measure before Newark voters. G would be city manager updates. H, city council matters. And that includes appointing a council member to be the delegate for the city at the upcoming annual conference. So that's how it would come across this evening.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. I appreciate that. To minimize disruption and avoid confusion, the special city council meeting will begin immediately following the adjournment of the regular city council meeting. For the convenience of those participating remotely, the same Zoom link is being used for both meetings. Members of the public who have joined remotely will not need to leave the meeting or reconnect when the special city council meeting begins. So with that note, let's stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The first item, ladies and gentlemen, is we're going to be issuing a proclamation for the Portuguese Fraternal Society of America Council No. 16, the Holy Ghost Festival. If I had Elisa Mendez join me at the podium, please. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a pretty significant proclamation. We've been issuing it here in the city of Newark for quite a number of years. The Portuguese community, when you really kind of roll back the history of the city of Newark, the Portuguese community were really instrumental in kind of creating the Newark that a lot of us see today. So we're really pleased. Not only are we a welcoming community for all cultures and religions, but we certainly want to pay respect to the Portuguese community who really were kind of ingrained in this community before we have become who we are today. So where's the, and this is their 103rd anniversary. God, it just seems like yesterday I did the 100th anniversary.

Yes.

Time is flying. It is flying. It's funny, they're doing their 103rd anniversary, but I have not aged a year since, and I appreciate that. Whereas the annual Newark Pavilion Portuguese Fraternal Society of America, PFSA, Council Number 16 Holy Ghost Festival, will be celebrated in Newark on July 23rd through the 26th. Whereas the event will also be the celebration of the Society's 130th anniversary in the City of Newark. Whereas the early members of PFSA were involved in and contributed greatly to the development of the city of Newark. Whereas these early members of PFSA established the Holy Ghost Festival, thus preserving their Portuguese homeland traditions and sharing these traditions with all Newark residents. Whereas the city of Newark wishes to join the Portuguese community of Newark in the celebration of their 103rd anniversary, of the annual Newark Pavilion PFSA Council Number 16 Holy Ghost Festival. This is a big event in our city. Come Sunday, I would imagine.

Ooh, starting today.

But no, but Sunday we do the- Sunday is the large parade.

The large parade right down Thornton Avenue to- It'll go Thornton to Newark Boulevard, maybe you turn at Derry, come back down Thornton. and then head back south on Cherry into the grounds.

Yes, perfect. It's really an incredible sight to see. If you haven't seen it before, the kids are all dressed up. It's such a historic event here in the city. So if you have a chance to stand by the roadside and observe, you certainly are encouraged to do that. Now, therefore, I, Michael Hannan, Mayor of the City of Newark, on behalf of my colleagues on the City Council, do hereby proclaim July 23 through 26 as a day of celebration to the Portuguese Fraternal Society of America, Council Number 16, on their 103rd anniversary, and ask everyone in the City of Newark to join us in the celebration of the event and in celebration of the rich cultural history that our Portuguese community shares with all of the residents of Newark. So I present this proclamation. And again, I'm thankful to the Portuguese community for all they've done for our community over the last 103 years. So I'll present this to you.

Thank you, Mayor Hannon. On behalf, I have my City of Newark jacket on because people that might be here might not know I actually work for the City of Newark. And I am representing tonight the Newark PFSA Council Number 16 Newark Holy Ghost, their president, Valerie Sayo, who couldn't be here this evening because the festival actually starts tonight. They're actually praying the rosary right now, so when I leave here, I'm going to go there. But on her behalf and on behalf of all of her offices, officers, committee members, and everybody that's involved, we want to thank the City of Newark for always 130 years of their collaboration, clear communication, a feat like... four days of celebration, two that actually go out on the street, both Saturday and Sunday, requires a lot of collaboration between people that may not know what's going on with the professionals. That's our public works department, that's our police department, that's volunteers, people that are taking their time out of their weekend to go out and help out at this celebration. So the Newark Holy Ghost is very, very grateful for everything that the city of Newark has done in collaboration to make this weekend's festival possible. Usually, a success. So we would like to invite everybody. It's a free event. There are events on Saturday. And then again, there's the big parade on Sunday. But we would like to invite the community, everybody that's here, to please come out. City Manager Boone was talking about some sweet bread. It will come. It will come. But again, it is an honor and a pleasure. And I said this already once here tonight to Colleen and Roya. But like I said, it is the city's mission to serve and partner with our community to enhance the quality of life of everybody in Newark. Organizations like this don't survive without that kind of collaboration. So once again, from the bottom of our hearts from the Newark Holy Ghost, we are grateful for this proclamation. I appreciate it very much.

Just like our city manager, you know, we do such important events in our community, and the only thing the city manager's thinking about right at this moment is when is that bread arriving, for goodness sake.

One, two, three.

Ladies and gentlemen, the next portion of our meeting is the public comment section. I'm sorry. I caught myself before you caught me. Ladies and gentlemen, now we're gonna hear a report regarding State Route 84, SR-84 Intermodal Bus Facility Project presentation. Mr. Bennu.

Yes, good evening, Your Honor, members of the council. This evening, we have a presentation from representatives of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority to talk about a potential intermodal bus facility project over on State Route 84. Would the presenters please come forward to the podium.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Oh, thank you. Thank you to the mayor, to the council, and to the city staff for having us. My name is Mei-Li Chu. I am the outreach lead with HDR. And this very tall, handsome gentleman is my colleague. I will give an intro shortly. But again, thank you for having us. We are providing an informational update on the State Route 84, SR 84 intermodal bus facility proposed project. I did want to introduce Shirley Chen, who is the principal planner and project manager with the Capital Corridor Joint Powers Authority. She is actually unavailable to attend. She is on travel with her family, so enjoying the summer. The gentleman to my right is my colleague, David Loftus. He is with HNTB, the lead engineer for the project. And again, my name is Meili Chu. with HDR leading the outreach and engagement. Just wanted to provide a quick project overview. The SR 84 Intermural Bus Facility project is proposed to be located just south of the current Ardenwood Park and Ride. It's located between the cities of Newark and Fremont. It is a proposed new inline bus station facility that is along State Route 84. It would have a shared use path for bike and pedestrians along and connecting Ardenwood Park and Ride to the bus facility entrance. It proposes to widen bridges over the Union Pacific Railroad and Newark Boulevard and Ardenwood Boulevard to accommodate new bus lanes for buses and private shuttles. And the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, is the lead environmental agency. This project has a strong purpose and need to improve access, reliability, and travel times for buses and shuttles connecting both the Alameda County with Peninsula, the Alameda County with Peninsula counties along San Francisco and those accessing the Dumbarton Bridge. This project would also encourage a shift from car and vehicles to bus and rail transportation. It will also allow for additional travel time savings for those utilizing public transportation and private employer shuttles. This is the proposed project area. Again, it is just south of the existing Ardenwood Park and Ride. This project has two proposed alternatives that David will walk us through.

Thank you, Maile. Good evening, Council. So our project has two current build alternatives. They're very similar in that they'll construct bus lanes in the median of the freeway. So right now you have two separate road beds, one in the westbound direction and one in the eastbound direction and a median separating them. So in that median, we'll construct bus lanes, one in each direction that will be separated from the mainline traffic as well as, you know, from the opposite directions for the bus lines. It'll start on the west end near the Thornton Boulevard interchange and then near the Lake Boulevard overcrossing on the east end. And so we'll, you know, these lanes will include, you know, an auxiliary lane for the buses on the left side of the freeway in the median to allow for the bus to pull out over from the number one lane into the the new bus lane and a deceleration before it approaches the station and then beyond the station there'll be a deceleration acceleration length and then an auxiliary lane for the buses to merge back into the freeway and that would be true for for each direction We'll be constructing, you'll be closing the gaps in the bridges, both at the Newark overhead over the Union Pacific Railroad, and then also for the undercrossing at Newark Boulevard. We'll also widen the freeway to the outside to improve the existing non-standard traveled way and shoulder widths on State Route 84. So where the two alternatives differ, Actually, why don't you go, sorry. We have two alternatives. Alternative one has just a single center platform in between the two bus lanes, whereas alternative two has two outboard platforms on the outside of those bus lanes. Maile, please. So the center, alternative one, the single center platform, you know, because buses have their doors typically on the right-hand side because they're just picking up typically at a curb on the street, will introduce crossovers on either end of the platform. vehicle coming from the up direction, that's the eastbound direction here, would approach the crossover. We'll have traffic control to, whether that's gates or signals or accommodation thereof, before the bus can enter the crossover zone and enter onto the left-hand side of the platform. uh as mailey said there'll be a shared use path that it connects to the uh existing park and ride lot and then uh you know in the in the median of the freeway there where the platform is there'll be an entrance structure including uh stairs and an elevator um and then once they leave the platform they'll re-enter the crossover to get back to the correct side of the freeway Alternative two eliminates those crossovers because the platforms are on the outsides of the bus on the correct side, the right side. And so there's no need for the crossover, the bus just approach the platform, they can pick up and discharge passengers and then continue on their way. Here again, we'll have an entrance structure in the median with a set of stairs and elevator leading to each platform. Malee, we'll talk about the timeline here.

Thanks, David. So for milestone one, for 2022 to 2025, we have been very involved in the environmental process. We started with a complete project initiation document, a PID. We started the project approval and environmental document, the PAED phase. And we are currently working on the draft initial study environmental assessment, so the draft ISEA. coming this fall will be the circulation of the draft environmental document. This is led by the Caltrans Department with the CEQA and NEPA requirements of a 30-day public comment period and a public hearing. This will be an opportunity for members of Newark, Fremont, agencies, elected as well as the public to provide any comments or questions on the draft environmental document as well as the technical studies. Following the 30-day comment period, we'll be able to revise, review, and analyze any of the comments submitted. This is our current milestone for this year. Following the draft ISEA, the public comment period as well as the public hearing, in 2027 we are projected to publish the final environmental document which will be certified and complete the project approval and environmental document phase. THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD WE HAVE BEEN ENGAGING AND HAVING ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS WITH CITIES AND PARTNERS TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE GATHERING FEEDBACK FROM BOTH RIDERS AS WELL AS RESIDENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS. IN 2023 THERE WAS A SPECIFIC BUS AND SHUTTLE RIDER SURVEY TO GATHER FEEDBACK. WE RECEIVED 192 RESPONSES. This February and March we held community pop-ups at the existing Ardenwood Park and Ride where we were able to connect with city staff as well as riders of AC Transit as well as the Dunbarton shuttles and private employer shuttles. We've continued to hold stakeholder briefings with Stanford Transportation, the City of Fremont, the City of Newark, as well as the Bay Area Council, specifically the Transportation Subcommittee. We encourage everyone including the Council and members of the public to stay informed. We have our project website. We have our email, our phone, as well as social media for Capitol Corridor and we welcome any questions or comments if you have them at this time.

Thank you. Are there any questions from the audience regarding what they've heard in terms of this proposal? Colleagues, this is just an informational item. Questions?

I have two questions.

Yes, Council Member Little.

My first question is, so how many shuttles are gonna be coming every hour? Is it a shuttle every hour, two hours, every five minutes? What are we looking at?

I'll tee it up for you, David. At the current Ardenwood Park and Ride, it has an existing shared use of private employee shuttles, as well as the shuttles or buses run by the Stanford Marguerite, AC Transit, as well as I think the Dumbarton Express travels. So it would... ENHANCE THE CURRENT CAPACITY BUT WE WOULDN'T BE ADDING CAPACITY AT THIS TIME. I'LL LET DAVID CLARIFY.

THAT'S RIGHT. SO NONE OF THE BUS AGENCIES HAVE YET KIND OF PLANNED FOR ANY INCREASE IN SCHEDULES BUT WE'RE ANTICIPATING ABOUT 100 BUSES A DAY THAT WOULD USE THE FACILITY. And so that would be primarily in the a.m., you know, a.m. peak period and the p.m. peak period. But, you know, it's hard to say, but, you know, it would be maybe five to ten buses in an hour in the morning and then in the same in the afternoon. But that's just kind of an educated guess.

So my next question was about how many people, I know you said buses, but how many people are you guys seeing Ardenwood Park and Ride right now?

I don't know if we have a number on that. Currently the Ardenwood Park and Ride lot is full almost on a daily basis, at least during the middle of the week.

How many spots are there then, parking spots?

That's a good question.

There are currently over 100 parking spots. I believe that the parking lot is currently operated in a joint effort between the city of Fremont as well as AC Transit. There is a, I'll say, monthly parking program where it has designated spots. We, through our outreach and through communications with those who utilize the park and ride, have noted that there is a long wait list. SO THEY ARE WANTING TO ADD CAPACITY AT THE CURRENT PARKING LOT. WE'VE ALSO BEEN TOLD THAT THEY HAVE SOME OVERFLOW PARKING AND THAT THEY'VE BEEN PARKING AT OTHER NON-DESIGNATED PARK AND RIDE LOCATIONS. CAR WASH. I KNOW WHAT IT IS. I HEARD ALSO THE CHIPOTLE. THEY ARE GETTING VERY EXCITED TO EXPAND. THEY'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO having more reliable parking, more access to parking, especially for those days that are more busy. And it looks like Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are more of the required in office days. So we're seeing a lot of the Stanford folks and those who are in the community wanting to utilize the parking lot more.

Okay, I had one last question. So on the slide that you showed for, what was it? Alternatives one and two. So I'm looking at this. Oh, go back, go back. There we go. I'm scared. How am I going to get there? Do I have to run through traffic?

You're a frogger.

Do I have to fly or a big jump? How do I get in the middle?

You'll see in the animation the white circles that are going to and from the park and ride lot. There'll be a new shared use path constructed at the parking lot level adjacent to the tracks.

Underneath or over?

Underneath the freeway, which is currently elevated over the railroad track.

Do you see my question, Mayor? Okay, so we're gonna have them park, and then we're gonna go underneath.

No, they'll stay at ground level, but underneath the freeway, yes.

Okay, got it.

Okay, because the freeway there is elevated to go over the railroad track.

This looks like that video game from the 1990s with the frog. Yep. You know? Okay, perfect.

I had a follow-up question because my son worked at Stanford a number of years ago and we did try to get a permit and we're told it was a long, long waiting list. He never did get one, by the way. Parking is critical at this location. I'm really hopeful that you'll come up with an alternative method for providing additional parking, especially for those folks that are working at Stanford and other locations because it cannot impact neighboring businesses. And I think you've indicated that you're looking at additional opportunities for parking other than at the park and ride. Is that what I understand?

Well, an increase in parking isn't necessarily part of the project. There may be an opportunity because buses now serve the park and ride lot with a, there's a shelter and curb for pickups. If the bus operators agree that they're just gonna stay on the freeway facility, then there would be no need for them to enter the park and ride lot, and perhaps some of that can be used for additional parking, but there's not proposed to be a great increase in parking as part of this project.

And you mentioned initially that there would be anticipated time savings to passengers. Have you calculated what you think that time savings might look like?

Yeah, I don't know that off the top of my head. We do have a traffic operations analysis report that does indicate what the savings may be. you know, it's probably a few minutes in each direction, you know, where they have, it can stay on the freeway rather than exiting in the off ramp. And then, you know, waiting for the signal, you have signal, particularly in the eastbound direction, you have to go through two signals and then the third signal to enter the park and ride lot. go circulate through that and then go the reverse direction to re-enter the freeway. And particularly in the westbound direction that has the HOV lane, we're not seeing the congestion now that we did before COVID, but if that congestion does come back, trying to exit a bus trying to exit the HOV lane the carpool lane to exit the freeway and then when they re-enter the freeway today and fighting to get back in there'd be some savings there.

Thank you. Other questions? I have two additional questions after he's done.

Thank you. So is this project fully funded? And what source?

No, funding hasn't been identified yet.

And I'm sorry to hear that. One of the things that's of concern to me is that Newark residents pay a toll on Dumbarton and we get silch for it. So we get the chance to fund other people's projects, but we haven't been able to to gain any benefits at all. So I would hope that the powers that be that allocate those monies would really keep in mind that this corridor has been paying and paying and paying, and we get nothing for it. So we would really like to, hopefully you can convey that in your process. Consider that a comment. Yeah, we'll definitely pass that along. Secondly, I note that there's no mixed multi-use path, as you call it, between the new station and Newark. So people from Newark who wanted to walk and bike. And in my opinion, people walking and biking is the best solution to the parking problems. And perhaps even neighborhood shuttles coming at some point and automated vehicles and so on and so forth. Was that considered and is that possible to have a connection, again, pedestrian connection, not parking connection to Newark directly so our residents wouldn't have to go and brave the freeway on ramps in order to get into the station?

Yeah, that has not been proposed for this project. The CCJPA has, I think it was last year, environmentally cleared their South Bay Connect project, which would relocate their capital corridor service to this railroad line, which I believe provides access in the four quadrants of this, what we're looking at here.

Great, and that of course would be connected to this project if that were to happen. Thank you for that. It would seem that Alternative 1 would be substantially cheaper than Alternative 2. Is that correct, given that you have less right-of-way and only one elevator and stairway instead of two?

Not significant. The difference is probably about 10% to 15% less expensive than Alternative 2. that's all I have.

Vice Mayor? Councilman Little.

So actually we were similar in the question what is the I didn't see any numbers here what was the forecasted cost of these?

Construction costs in today's dollars are you know about 170 to 190 million dollars. For for

A for Alternative A?

So Alternative 1 would be on the lower end there and Alternative 2 on the upper end.

And what can we do as a city to help you? What's the plan of action for this?

Be an advocate for it. You know, I believe the CCJPA would be looking for a project sponsor to take it into construction. And then, you know, someone will need to be responsible for operations and maintenance of this facility. So, you know... Advocating to MTC and other agencies would be, I think, a big step that you can help with.

Okay, any other questions?

Thank you very much for the presentation.

Anything that makes our commute safer and more efficient for our residents, we certainly will support. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm now going to go to the public comment section of our agenda. This is an opportunity for residents to speak on any item that is not on tonight's agenda. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak to the council on an item that's not on the agenda? Yes, sir, come on up, please. Welcome.

Hi, Tom Pelk, Mayhew's Landing. Hey, Tom. Nice to see you again. I'm here because I wanted to thank you guys for keeping us updated. We got an email, I think, at like 9 o'clock on Monday. Somebody was burning the midnight oil from Stephen, giving us an update on what was going on and what happened. So we're all very happy about that. I got a lot of good feedback from my community. So thank you very much.

And Tom, we were really appreciative of you and the community coming to the council because that's really what democracy is all about. As items come before the council, we need community feedback and the folks came out in full force and we're a long ways away from that project, but make sure you thank residents of the community for coming forward.

I will do that.

Thank you, Tom. Anybody else that would like to speak under public comment, please. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment.

No.

Sorry, thank you. Is there anybody online that would like to speak on public comment?

No, Your Honor.

Thank you, Council Member Grindahl. Appreciate that. You'd expect that from the Vice Mayor for some reason. It's contagious. The next item, ladies and gentlemen, is the consent calendar. These are generally considered routine items and may be approved by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless there is a request by a council member, staff member, or a member of the public to pull an item for discussion. The consent calendar consists of the following. One is the approval of audited demands. Two is the approval of the City Council July 9, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Three, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a contractual services agreement with the Browning Ferris Industries of California Inc. to procure SB 1383 compliant compost in the amount not to exceed $134,000 and to amend the 2026-2028 biennial budget. Four, adopt a resolution establishing the fiscal year 2026, 2027 tax appropriations limit, five adopt resolutions, improving the budget amendment to the 2026, 2031 capital improvement plan and agreement with Urban Plan Partners Inc to provide professional planning services. in the not to exceed contract amount of 459,776. Six, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a task order number 34 to the joint powers agreement with the city of Fremont for paratransit services with Ride On Tri-City, an amount not to exceed 189,642 to amend the biannual budget. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to have further discussion or explanation or questions on any of those items? City Manager, any item you want pulled from the consent calendar? Not this evening, Your Honor. Colleagues, any item you'd like pulled from the consent calendar? Council Member Grindahl.

I'd like to see item two, the minutes of the July 9th meeting pulled. I also have a quick question about item five. We can either pull that or just allow me to ask staff that question.

Yeah, why don't we go to a quick question on that? Sure. Any other council members want to pull item five? Okay, quick question.

The money for this project is shown as coming from the New Park Mall improvement account. Excuse my, I know I don't have it exactly right, but you understand my point. So I just wanted to confirm that that doesn't represent a movement away from our commitment to that. This is more of an accounting exercise that we can backfill those monies at some future time. Is that accurate? That's correct, council member. Thank you, that was my question.

Great, any other council members wanna pull any other item? Okay, can I get a motion to approve items one, three, four, five, and six? I'll motion it.

By council member Little, I'll second.

By council member Grendel, let's vote on those items only. And those items were approved by the Council with four ayes and Council Member Del Cantancio is not currently here at this portion of the meeting. Council Member Grindahl on item number two.

Yes, so on the minutes of the July 9th meeting, in the discussion of the BLT, the business license tax, sorry for the, we started talking alphabet soup up here. In the business license tax, there was no reference whatsoever to the the points that were made by myself or any other council member about the concerns or questions about the BLT process. So I really think the minutes should reflect, obviously not a word for word, but the minutes should reflect that there is some discussion when a council member has concerns and talks with a fairly long statement. So I'd like to see staff, the city manager come back and take a take a look at that and see if they can slightly put a little bit of flesh on those bones. That'd be that'd be my request.

City Manager Cotter

Staff certainly has no objections if the council would like to continue this item for September 10th, that would be the next regularly scheduled city council meeting. We would need an opportunity to go back and take a look and make sure that we're taking a consistent approach with respect to developing the minutes. Generally speaking, from my recollection, these are action minutes, so we don't entertain a lot of notes in there in terms of here's the discussion that the council had. Having said that though, council member and I talked prior to the meeting and I indicated that in the past we did make those types of comments. So I'd like the opportunity to review prior minutes and making sure that we're taking a consistent approach.

Thank you, so we are not going to take a vote on that item. Item two will be deferred to the September meeting. I want the audience to know though that all of our council meetings are available on YouTube. All of our council meetings are archived. So at any time, the council minutes, council meetings are available for the public to review at any time. So we will continue that item until September. Okay.

Do we need a motion and a vote for continuing or?

Yes, let's get a motion to continue that item to what date in September, Mr. Bannone?

September 10th. September 10th. Can I get a motion? I'll make that motion.

By Council Member Grendel. Second by anybody? I'll second the continuance. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Please vote. and that passes with four ayes. So Mr. Mnuchin, when you come back on that item, you're going to also describe to the council in terms of kind of the parameters as to what we can anticipate in future minutes. Is that what you're anticipating as well?

Sure, we'd be happy to have that discussion. Obviously, these are the city council meetings minutes. Council's free to insert whatever verbiage they feel is appropriate. Staff would like an opportunity to take a look at past practice and provide rationale to the council in terms of how we develop and craft those.

Perfect. And that's what I'm suggesting. Thank you. The next item is item number one under public hearing, hearing to consider property owners' objections and adopt a resolution confirming the Superintendent of Streets report concerning weed abatement assessments. Mr. Bennoon?

Yes, good evening, Your Honor, members of the Council. This is our annual hearing to consider staff's recommendation to confirm the weed abatement assessments. This will be obviously for this fiscal year. Tonight we have a relatively brief presentation from our maintenance supervisor, Mr. Dan Ciancirillo, Before I pass it over to Mr. Cianciarello, staff's recommendation is, of course, to receive the staff report, open the public hearing, receive comments from the public, and then entertain staff's recommendation to approve the resolution as presented. With that in mind, I'll pass it over to Dan Cianciarello, our maintenance supervisor, who has a very brief staff report this evening.

Very brief, very brief. Good evening, Your Honor, members of council. At the council meeting held on June 11th, 2026, council directed the superintendent of streets to abate weeds on 20 parcels of land as part of this year's annual weed abatement and fire prevention program. Alameda County Fire Code Compliance Officer Adrian Frazier and I coordinated with the city's landscape contractor to clear weeds from 20 parcels and we have prepared assessments relating to those properties. Assessments range from $384 to $2,880 depending on the size of the property. The list of properties and proposed assessments are attached to the staff report. After opening the public hearing and acting upon any objections raised by property owners, staff recommends that the City Council confirm the Superintendent of Streets report regarding weed abatement assessments. This concludes our staff report. I'd be happy to answer any questions that Council may have.

Thank you very much for that brief report. Before I open up the council for questions on this item, I'm gonna open up a public hearing. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak to this item, or is there anybody online that would like to speak to this item?

No, Your Honor, on the online.

Thank you, anybody in the audience that wants to speak on this item? Okay, I'll go ahead and close public testimony and return to my colleagues. Questions, comments? Council Member Little.

I'm just curious, how many sites that we did this week? 20. 20?

I only have two questions and this is not a reflection, not a question, it's a comment. It's not really, it's not a reflection on staff. I want to make that clear. But some of these parcels that we are abating are on private property. And unfortunately the weeds get to quite high in my estimation, really creating a fire hazard. Does the city, Mr. Bennu take any enforcement action against these property owners before we, the city have the opportunity to go out and basically take care of their private property?

The parcels in question are generally industrial or commercial properties. So this was what the proper remedy is. We do take enforcement action with respect to residential weed issues.

And aside from the cost to actually abate these weeds, I can't remember. I know I've asked this question in years past. Do we charge an administrative fee as well?

That's correct, Your Honor. It's the true cost of hiring our contractor plus 20% for administrative cost recovery.

Thank you. If there's no questions, can I get a motion to approve staff's recommendation? So moved. By the Vice Mayor.

I'll second it.

Second by Council Member Little. Please vote. And that passes unanimously for Council Members voting yes and Council Member Contoncio absent during this portion of the meeting. Thank you, Dan. The next item, ladies and gentlemen, is a hearing to consider adoption of a resolution approving amendments to the Master Fee Schedule for fiscal year 26-27. Mr. Benun?

Yes, good evening, Your Honor, members of the Council. This is a public hearing to consider staff's recommendation to amend portions of the city's Master Fee Schedule for fiscal years 26 through 27. as they relate to development impact fees as the council is aware city collects development impact fees for new construction that takes place in our city this includes fees relating to park impacts public safety facilities impacts community services impacts transportation impacts and housing impacts the enabling resolutions for those fees authorize annual adjustment based off the engineering news record construction cost index for the san francisco bay area The current index for 2026 contains a 0.3% increase. Staff recommends that the council open the public hearing, receive testimony, and then act on staff's recommendation to adjust all the development impact fees by 0.3% per the index. Before I conclude, I'd like to briefly note that the comprehensive update to impact fees is currently underway and staff anticipates presenting recommended adjustments to those fees later this year. That concludes our presentation this evening. Be happy to answer any questions that the council may have.

Great, before I get to council questions, I'm gonna go ahead and open up the public hearing on this item. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak to the item where we're going to approve amendments to the master fee schedule? Is there anybody online, Madam Clerk, that would like to speak to this item?

No, Your Honor.

Great, I'm gonna go ahead and close the public testimony on this item and return to my colleagues on the council for questions, comments. Councillor Grendel.

I don't know what I'm doing. So thank you, thank you particularly for the comment. I am looking forward to seeing the more comprehensive update and in particular our woefully low, in my opinion, housing impact fee. We have an inclusionary ordinance that requires 10% of the units be affordable and our present fee doesn't come close to providing that equivalency. So looking forward to seeing that coming forward, but I don't have any concerns on this item itself.

Great, any other questions? If not, I'll get a motion to approve. I'll motion it. By Council Member Little. I'll second. By the Vice Mayor, please vote. Okay, who did I miss? Councillor, oh, are you?

I missed it.

Okay, are you gonna vote yes? I'm voting yes. So this will reflect four yeses, and Councilmember Cantancio not joining us at this portion of the meeting. a hearing to consider a call for review of the Planning Commission's approval of a conditional use permit U2026-002 for a temporary commercial entertainment, fear overlord, overlord. Fear overload haunted house at New Park Mall located at 2086 New Park Mall Suite number 1149 APN 901-111-25 and consider adopting a resolution affirming the Planning Commission's action with changes or in the alternative consider adopting a resolution overturning the Planning Commission's report. Mr. Mnuchin, I know staff's ready to give a report on this item. This item, colleagues, went to the city council and was passed unanimously. I know the council, I'm sorry, what'd I say?

City council has already completed.

went to the Planning Commission and was adopted unanimously. These folks have been putting on the haunted house at New Park Mall now for several years. I'm gonna go ahead and open up the public hearing to see if there's any comments from the audience. I'll open up the public hearing on this request by Council Member Grendel to pull this item up. Anybody in the audience that'd like to discuss this item? Seeing none, is there anybody online, Madam Clerk?

No, Your Honor.

I'm going to go ahead and close public testimony. Colleagues, the reason I'm doing this, I don't see any reason for us to have lengthy conversation on something that's been provided to our community for the last several years. It was unanimously approved by the Planning Commission. I certainly do want to give Councillor Grendel the opportunity to speak as to why he pulled this item up. Councillor Grendel?

certainly thank you thank you mr. mayor the the required findings to approve a minor use permit include compliance with all of our regulations the the mall property has has had significant and long-standing when I'm talking about years code issues that they have simply decided not to not to address They have, there have been significant problems with the maintenance of the property, of storage of material, storage of broken down cars, and the the mall, frankly, just is not moving. I would like to, and so as such, the findings, the requirement for findings don't allow the findings to be made if the if the property owner is not in compliance with our regulations and they clearly are not, they have outstanding code issues. I would like to note, and this is a compliment to our staff for working with the property owner, there has been some progress since Since I asked this project to be called up, I'm not saying that's necessarily related, but since that time, there have been some progress on some of the more egregious issues, but there's still significant code issues, so I don't believe the findings can be made, and so I wanted to be able to, to have a vote on this project, on these findings, and I would not be supporting making those findings, because I don't believe that this project is consistent with our zoning code. I'm sorry, the property's consistent with our zoning code.

Thank you for your comments. Any other comments from my colleagues? Councillor Little?

So my question is with this permit, first of all, I think it's awesome. I think haunted houses is a great recreational activity for kids. I think it's great to get them outside, scare them a little bit, it's all good. My question is, what type of money do we make in this? In the city, what do they pay? who pays the permit, do we get a percentage of the income, does the mall get a percentage of the income? I'm just kind of curious where the money falls on this. Because if the mall is getting paid some money, this is a great opportunity to take that money and fix the mall. So I was just kind of curious, where's the money coming? Where's it coming from? We know where it's coming from, where's it going?

Well, we do get money through the permitting process, but let's look at the more, let's look at the bigger picture here. They're anticipating 1,400 customers would attend on peak hours and a total of 800 customers would attend on non-peak hours. So think of the residual benefit to our community in terms of all those folks that may be visiting our restaurants, the employees that will be hired to staff this event, the jobs that will be created and the other residual benefits in terms of, as you mentioned, Council Member, the recreational benefit to our community. So there's so many benefits to our community that were outlined in the staff report that we may not see the dollars today, but we'll certainly see them as folks shop and dine in our community. I'd be interested to, I find it interesting if we were to vote no, because Councilman Guindal has indicated he's gonna vote no, which means that he does not want to provide the recreational amenities to which our customers and citizens have been accustomed to the last few years. He doesn't want to create jobs for the employees that might get some part-time jobs. He doesn't want restaurants and hotels to benefit financially as a result of this I wonder just thinking out loud, if other council members thought the same way that council member Grendall thought in terms of denying this condition to use permit, it's really one of those situations we're almost cutting off our nose to spite our face. I don't disagree with council member Grendall when it comes to the mall and my angst as to the mall and their inability to develop the mall in the way that we would anticipate it should be developed. But this is not the opportunity to do this. This is taking, again, another small business and saying I don't want to approve your small business even though you bring benefits to our community in a variety of ways. This is not the forum for that. I'll take a motion to approve this.

I'd like to move to affirm the Planning Commission's decision of approval of the project.

Great, motion by Vice Mayor.

Second by Little.

Council Member Little, please vote.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a quick comment, if possible, on your comments.

Sure, let me go ahead and just record the vote, if I may, and then you can certainly make a comment, absolutely. That passes on three ayes, one no by Council Member Grendall, and of course, as I mentioned, Council Member Contancio is absent for this portion of the meeting. Council Member Grendall. I do care about the issue, I do care about, sorry, I do care about the issues that you're referring to.

What I'm stating is that the findings that are required to be made cannot be made in this case. That's my opinion.

Thank you for that comment.

I truthfully am curious how much the sales tax and that is for our city. That'd be something to be interesting to know, you know, when we find out, cause it is any activity, anything we come, we had the circus come recently. That was fantastic. So I'm just glad to see more kid friendly recreational activities here.

And oftentimes, again, we're continuing to comment on the item. It's not uncommon for cities and counties to kind of look at an economic benefit of some of these activities that come to their community. I don't think we've done an analysis in terms of the economic benefit, but I would certainly ask staff if there's an opportunity to calculate what that economic benefit might be to our community. and maybe at some point, Mr. Bindoon, you can report back to the council what you anticipate that might be. It might just be a range, but again, we know, as I indicated, there are jobs created, there's recreational amenities created, there's folks that are spending dollars in our community, so there's a significant benefit to our community. Again, don't disagree with what Council Member Grindahl said relative to the mall, and at some point, Council Member Grindahl, we're gonna have the mall standing before us. Let's hope. I look forward to that day. You and I will be arm in arm on that one.

Well, hopefully it's with a great project in hand and it can be positive.

And or a new developer. I think that's it on our current agenda, Mr. Benun, Madam Clerk, if I'm not mistaken. I want to go over to the city manager report.

Sure, we do have some time before the 8.15 special meeting, that start time. I'd be happy to speak for a few minutes and provide city manager updates. In the meantime, Mr. Miranda, if you could be so kind as to load the PowerPoint presentation. We have nine items for your information this evening. We do take an August recess, so there's a lot of activity happening in the month of August, hence a little bit more of a lengthy report this evening. The first item, I saw the remote earlier. Ah, here it is. Oh, thank you, Mr. Miranda, appreciate it. The first item, Groovin' at the Grove returns tomorrow evening with ZBOP. This is a free event over at New Park Mall, Shirley Sisk Grove. Live music, great company, fun community atmosphere from 5 to 7.30. Gates open at 4 p.m. Bring your family, friends, low-back chairs, and blankets. Next slide, please. Second announcement is National Night Out is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4th. Please join us for a nationwide event that brings neighbors and law enforcement together to strengthen community partnerships and support crime prevention efforts. Residents are encouraged to host a block party, neighborhood gathering, or community event. Registered events may receive a visit from police personnel, along with giveaways and other resources. Registration closes tomorrow, Friday, July 24th, and application to register can be found on our website. The third item for your information this evening is a missing middle study session will occur next week at our planning commission meeting on July 28th, that's Tuesday. This will be an opportunity for the public to provide an input on how to increase the diversity of housing options available here in Newark. Missing middle housing describes a broad range of housing types, including smaller homes on smaller lots, duplexes, triplexes, and small multi-unit buildings. Missing middle housing is a component of the city's housing element and staff intend to propose recommendations to the Planning Commission later this year and then subsequently to the City Council. The fourth announcement is our Silliman Aquatic Center is closed August 3rd through 7th. This is for scheduled maintenance. During this time, all aquatic programs, including the activity pool, lap pool, and spa will be unavailable. Those amenities will reopen on Saturday, August 8th, and regular operating hours and programs will resume at that time. Please note that the lazy river and waterslides will remain closed after August 7th for ongoing maintenance. The fifth announcement is candidate nomination period is currently open for the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election. Offices on the ballot include one mayor, two-year term, two city council members, four-year terms. Nomination period closes August 7th at 4 p.m. Candidates must schedule an appointment with the city clerk to pull papers and information is available on our website. To be eligible, candidates must be voters in the city of Newark, at least 18 years of age on election day, a Newark resident, and otherwise meet requirements under California law. Sixth announcement is shape Newark's parks and open spaces. We encourage the residents to take our survey. We're currently updating our parks, recreation, open space element. This is a long range plan that will help guide the future of Newark's parks, trails, recreation facilities, and open spaces. It is a 10-minute survey. We ask that you share your ideas on how we can improve parks, protect natural areas, and prepare for future community needs. The survey is available in multiple languages and can be found on our website. It will close on August 7th. Seventh announcement is Community Emergency Response Team, otherwise known as CERT. They're holding another personal emergency preparedness class on August 12th from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. in the city of Union City, and that will be also available through Zoom. This training will be planning for your pets in an emergency, that will be the focus. Staff from the East Bay SPCA will speak about how to plan for your pets before disaster happens and what to do to protect your pets when disaster strikes. Again, this is on September 9th from 7.30 to 9.00 p.m. at the Newark Senior Center and through Zoom. Eighth announcement, upcoming plan, prepare, response, recover training sessions. We are holding our Office of Emergency Preparedness is working in partnership with Alameda County Fire and Alameda County Library to conduct free plan, prepare, response, recover training at the Newark Library. These sessions are free and open to the public. Community members are encouraged to bring their friends or family and learn basic preparedness skills. There will be three upcoming sessions covering various topics, which include personal emergency preparedness training on Sunday, August 7th, from 2 to 4, hands-only CPR, abdominal thrust maneuver, Monday, August 17th, from 6 to 7 p.m., excuse me, 6 to 7, 30 p.m., and fire extinguisher training on Sunday, September 13th, from 2 to 3 p.m. And all of these trainings will be held in the Newark Library Community Room, and people can sign up through the library website shown on the screen. And last but not least, our CERT team is holding an open house on Saturday, September 12th. This will be at Alameda County Fire Station 27, which is located on Cherry Street. Saturday, September 12th from 9 to noon, 9 a.m. to noon. Come meet our current CERT volunteers and learn about what Newark CERT does and how you can be part of this program and support your community when disaster happens. A friendly reminder that we do take an August recess, so the next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Thursday, September 10th.

And that took us to 8.14 p.m. No, my watch says you have another 45 seconds. Thank you, Mr. Mnuchin. We're gonna hold council comments as we normally do. We'll hold that to the end of the meeting. And since it's just about 8.15, City Clerk, is Council Member Contoncio online?

Yes, Your Honor.

Councillor Contancio, welcome. Can you hear us okay?

Let me pick our panelists. One moment, please.

Yes, I can hear you.

Councillor Contancio, you can hear us?

Yes, I can.

Great. Welcome. And let's see, you're in what, Virginia?

Yes, I'm in Virginia.

It's 1115. So my goal is to keep you past midnight.

Okay.

Well, that'll be fun for the minutes, won't it, Mr. Banoone? Let the record show, we're gonna go ahead and start the special meeting, ladies and gentlemen, it is 8-15. Let the record show that all council members are here with Council Member Cantanchile,