Remarks by Phil Bacerra
77 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 4
- Play at 2:37:59
“Mayor, I'll go ahead and make a motion, but I'd like to amend it just a tiny bit. And that is on the item, this is from what I believe staff is just to clarify that we want a physical notice posted on the property. I'd like to add language that talks about an 11 by 17 yellow poster board with text at the top that says public hearing notice in three and a half inches at the top, similar to what the city of LA does. Because right now what ends up happening is they put out an eight and a half by 11, black and white, and some people assume it's trash. They don't even know it's a notice. So I like…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 2:39:07
“So the, I guess just to be clear, so what, I think what the mayor's asking for, I agree with, it should be multi-language, but it would be the eight and a half by 11 and whatever radius map or whatever you guys require would be affixed to an 11 by 17 yellow fluorescent board.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 2:41:55
“Yeah, I think giving you flexibility, you want to make them larger.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 2:52:23
“Council Member Becerra. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you to folks from the Carpenters for coming out tonight and for sharing with us this information. This is very serious. I mean, wage theft, exploitation, I mean, definitely gives us pause up here, at least gives me pause. To our staff, I think when I look at this and I see 1,200 Maine GP LLC, that seems pretty benign. And I know that this has been an issue in the past with other projects where understanding who's applying for these items. And this is pretty vague, 1,200 Maine. And it's not to say that we haven't done this before. I get it.…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:03:29
“We don't have the first meeting in November, so it's either going to be late November or late October.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:16:36
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:17:34
“Okay, great, so you answered my next question, which is how many do we have regardless of size? So we have three. So a typical full-scale data center roughly occupies 40 acres of land, and that's needed to house the cooling and the power equipment that they need. The site of the Bristol-related project site is 41 acres, is that correct?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:17:56
“Okay, are there any sites similar to that size that you're aware of in Santa Ana that are available to be developed?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:18:13
“Perfect. Thank you for that. And so often the shopping centers, like I'm trying to think of some of the bigger ones, like maybe 17th and Tustin, maybe even Northwest corner of Grand and 17th. Would you say that those kind of range in size from about 15 to 25 acres?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:18:41
“Okay, and so has the city received any new applications for data centers?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:18:48
“Zero. Okay. So, and if one were to submit one, so let's just say tomorrow morning, someone waltzed into the counter, submitted, or went to the planner and said, I want to open up a data center. Can you clarify, would they just get an over-the-counter permit, or would they need some sort of discretionary permit, like a conditional use permit?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:19:46
“And so with it going to the planning commission, again, thinking about person walks into the counter tomorrow morning, would that person get through the initial review, environmental review, agendized for a planning commission meeting, noticing a decision, appeal period exhausted, could that all be done in 45 days?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:20:11
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:21:10
“I mean just focusing on the moratorium the fact that 45 days we have no pending applications you know it sounded like from our executive director of planning and building didn't seem like he was anticipating any so I guess just thinking about a moratorium you know could be legally challenged we've had moratoriums challenged in the city on land use issues would you wouldn't feel confident bringing this forward then and having it be legally defensible.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:21:37
“I'm saying for what was being proposed in the signing.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:22:24
“Well the director, our executive director said that basically, they would have to apply for a conditional use permit. That conditional use permit process would take them beyond 45 days. The proposal before us is a moratorium for 45 days.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:22:59
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:23:11
“and the industrial land use section, that's not gonna be omitted. That will be part of the all-inclusive zoning code update, correct?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:23:19
“Okay, so and that's coming out on October 6th. I'm not a mathematician, but that's less than 45 days, is that correct?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:23:25
“Okay, so I'm just, I guess one other question for staff is, did Councilmember Lopez meet with the city manager and city attorney about this item?”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:23:46
“Okay, so you don't have to disclose what you guys talked about, but I just feel like this back and forth I just had with our Executive Director of Planning and Building kind of flushed out the lack of need for this item because it's not that I don't have concerns about the data centers, but the fact of the matter is we're literally gonna deal with this in two weeks. THERE'S NO NEED FOR A MORATORIUM BECAUSE, AGAIN, PUSHING THIS OUT 45 DAYS, GIVEN THE FACT THAT OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND BUILDING JUST CONFIRMED, THERE'S NO WAY A DATA CENTER COULD BE APPROVED IN 45 DAYS EVEN IF…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:46:26
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just to echo the sentiments of my colleagues, I want to thank staff for putting on a wonderful Fiestas Patrias. That was a great event from the grito to the parade to just the entire celebration. It was wonderful to see the community out there. So thank you, both city manager's office, Parks and Rec, and all the staff that helped out on that. Saturday, October 3rd, I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours at Segerstrom Triangle Park over there on Segerstrom and Shelton, just across the street from Saddleback High School. And for my Ward 4 residents, we're…”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 3:47:23
“October 23rd, that's wonderful, great. Thank you for that update, Ali, and I'll end on that good note. Good night, everybody. Thank you, Mayor Pretem.”
City Council · Sep 15, 2026
- Play at 1:50:06
“Good evening everybody. So tonight it's my great honor to recognize the Orange County Bomberos for their dedication to our youth and our community. Founded in 2020, the OC Bomberos are a nonprofit organization comprised of firefighters throughout Orange County. So not just OCFA, but throughout. And they provide scholarships and mentorships to aspiring firefighters and emergency responders. Their mission is to help youth from low-income households who are motivated to pursue their dream career of becoming firefighters. There are many kids who are simply unaware. of the possibility of working…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:51:50
“I'm not going to ask the city manager because him and I were in the same place. We were watching you kick butt up there. Yeah. Same here, right? Same here. So, no, we had a blast. I know you were there as well, Sylvia, and we had a couple of other folks. So a couple of the deputy chiefs, although the chief was the one that got, I think, the farthest of the city group.”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026