City Council - Regular Meeting

Ontario City Council. So our pledge of allegiance tonight will be led by council member Farrata. Invocation will be led by pastor Vajinmi from Dios International Missionary Church. And step up to the podium.

Please join me in the pledge to our great flag. Ready to begin.

Gracious God, we gather at the start of the Ontario City Council meeting to acknowledge our responsibility to serve with integrity and humility. Grant wisdom to those gathered here, give clarity of thought, patience in discussion, and fairness in decision making. Help us to listen carefully, speak respectfully, and act in ways that promotes the common good. May our deliberations be guided by justice, compassion, and a sincere commitment to the well-being of all who live, work, and worship in our city. Bless the city of Ontario with peace, safety, and unity, and help us toward the trust placed in us with diligence and care.

We are thankful for the opportunity to serve, and we ask for guidance as we carry out our duties today. Amen. Amen.

I'll ask our city attorney to give us a report on closed session.

Yes. Thank you Mr. Mayor. This afternoon, the council met to consider each of the items that are listed on their closed session agenda. They provided direction to staff, but there is no reportable action this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. It moves us to public comments and which will be limited to three minutes. You'll be alerted when you have one minute remaining. And in accordance with state law, we can only deal with subjects in council's jurisdiction. Anyone wishing to speak must be recognized by the chair. And do we have any emailed public comments? Madam City Clerk. Thank you.

And,

oh yeah, there's no video for any of us up here. Anyway, we'll just have to watch there. Okay. So with that, we'll begin with our first speaker tonight is Dale Roberts.

Good evening. You might wish that I wasn't the first one here. For you, Mr. Leon, I want to say to you, if anyone intimidates you again or attempts to bully you by going to the paper, you can call on me. I'm easy to find and I can take care of the situation, period. Okay? I detest bullies, especially when you don't have the opportunity to speak back to people, I can. Okay. Thank you. Next thing I'd like to get to is the police department.

Okay? On numerous occasions, they have lied to me on multiple occasions from telling me that the dispatching someone to look into it, and they're not. The reason I know this, and it's multiple times that it's happened, is because I see if somebody is gonna respond as if they're gonna do anything. So one or two things is happening. Either the cops aren't being dispatched or the cops are lying in their reports.

It's one of those two things. I find so much in this city is based on lies, thugs, cowards and bullies. I don't say that lightly at all. For the last week and a half, you can check with your different departments from waste management. I've called your office. I've called the city manager's office. I've called the police department. I've called the fire department. The fire department, I didn't get a response to. There was no one there, and I might have called the wrong number to get attention.

Okay? Why are we paying the police to service this city

One minute remaining.

When they just drive by stuff that pertains to their jurisdiction. Over here on I Street, they park on the, in the red zone all the time. Right now, there's, you can send somebody over there there's three dumpsters that's parked in front of the red zone. That is illegal. It's in violation of CDC 22,500. Okay? And for the waste management to send the person out there and to put bins in front of that red zone is telling him to commit a crime. That needs to be taken care of. And that's why I'm here. I thank you very much.

All right, thank you Mr. Roberts. Mr. City Manager, is there anyone you could speak to about exactly where those are and we can look into that?

Yes, Mr. Ishi, would you please talk to Mr. Roberts?

Thank you.

Mr. Roberts, that gentleman standing up will speak to you right now about this.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Kizzy.

Thank you, Mayor of City Council. I often come here to address issues in South Ontario. Today I want to address issues as a society as a whole. Just before the New Year came, we had a couple of active shooters that happened on this continent as well as abroad. I want to ask everyone in this room to have a little more patience with each other.

If you encounter someone who seems they need some help, please say something. I know a lot of us get caught up with dealing with the daily nuances of life, our children, our bills, what we need, what we want. And we forget about some other people that maybe need a little more attention. So, rather than me focusing on what we need in South Ontario tonight, I thought it would be best if maybe just all of us kind of take a chance and reflect on those that we encounter. And if we see somebody that needs a little patience or we see someone that needs attention or we see somebody that needs to be in cuffs, we do what we need to do so that hopefully there won't be an end to 2025 or I should say an end to 2026 as we did with 2025. And that's it.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Our next speaker is Randy Beckenden.

Good evening, mayor and council. Happy New Year's. I'm here to make you aware and anyone who's listening to me about a news conference that was held last month in Washington DC. Our new secretary of agriculture, Brooke Rollins convened this news conference. It was December 10, if you want to look it up.

The topic was regenerative farming. And that's exciting for for a farmer like me. We're passionate about regenerative farming. But the government is finally realizing that the quality of our food supply in our nation has been declining for years, largely due to chemical use. And regenerative farming embraces zero chemical use.

So the government is rolling out a pilot program, $700,000,000 for farmers to stop using chemicals and adopt regenerative methods. I really encourage everyone to listen to this news conference because the secretary of Ag uses language, you know, I'm not used to hearing out of Washington. But, she's educated on this. And, she talked a lot about statistics we all know about, rate of diabetes and obesity. And even even autism is on the rise because of chemicals in our food and the environment.

Regenerative farming produces nutrient dense food. She even mentioned urban farming. Technically, Amy's farm was more or less an urban farm. When you eat nutrient dense food, it takes less

One minute remaining.

Takes less to nourish you and you stay satiated longer. So, actually reduce your intake and lose weight and so on. It's the opposite of empty calories that we hear about. So, this is important for Ontario because before we pave everything, we should save some farmland and, you know, we're passionate about converting that farmland to regenerative farming. Most of it are empty dairies now.

So, but again, December 10, Secretary of Agriculture, regenerative farming. You type in those words, it will come up on YouTube and everybody watch it. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. That ends our public comments. So any agenda reviews or announcements, mister city manager?

Yes, mister mayor, members of city council. At each of your seats, there's an updated copy of the exhibits to the resolution being considered under item number five. The updated reflects any payments received from property owners up to 9AM on Tuesday, 01/20/2026. The updated materials reflect a revised and reduced amount for assessments now totaling $182,563.26 related to 116 parcels, which means that $80,979.31 for 44 parcels, excuse me, was collected, postponed or settled until the public agenda or since the public agenda was published. The updated material provided will be incorporated into the public record as the consent calendar is taken up by the council.

Thank you sir.

Okay, thank you. So we'll move on to consent calendar and Mr.

Mayor I beg your pardon sir. There also is an updated item on number 23 under updated materials and I believe we have copies for all of you here at the dais.

And there should be copies in the back of the room for the public if they would like to review it. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you. So that moves us to consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar will be enacted with one motion without a separate discussion list. It is asked for by the council. We do have one blue card written to item number seven. And as a reminder, comments for consent calendar are limited to two minutes. And I'll entertain a motion after we hear or or counsel comments after we hear from Andrea Romero on item number seven.

Good evening. My name is Andrea Romero with Unite Here Local eleven. I'm here to bear witness to the problems with the with this rush ordinance that will not provide hotel workers with the protections they deserve. I would like to highlight three big problems with the proposed ordinance, especially in contrast to the protections written by hotel housekeepers and supported by thousands of Ontario voters. Number one, we need we must not second guess workers especially when they face harassment and threatening behavior.

The voter initiative allows workers facing violent or threatening conduct to work, leave on the immediate danger to await assistance, and then activate the personal security device or to activate in the presence of the danger. The worker who is best situated to decide the safest course of action may decide. In contrast, the proposed ordinance is not clear on whether the device can be activated when the worker has left the immediate area of danger to prevent second guessing One minute remaining. The initiative states no hotel workers shall face employment action for activating the device unless there is clear proof they knowingly and intentionally made a false emergency claim. Number two, workers must provide unreasonable accommodations that address their safety concerns and pay time out to report violent and threatening conduct.

The voter initiative lets workers request reasonable accommodations like modified schedules reassignments and other job adjustments if they face violence or threats. In contrast, the proposed ordinance only allows reassignment to a different area away from the threat, implying the individual may still be presented and I mean, still be present and potentially threatening others. The initiative also enables workers to take time off to report such conducts while the ordinance still specify this time off is paid. Number three, lack of training and lack of urgency. So I didn't get a chance to finish. Thank you.

Alright, thank you. So actually we did have a conflict with item number 10 that we would pull that separately. Does she have to excuse herself on item 10 or?

No, Mr. Mayor. The consent calendar, she can stay as long as Council Member Macias states her conflict on the record. Okay. Before you vote. Okay. Which is now.

Now. Okay. Yes, so I am currently employed through the company that we're gonna be putting this on.

So it's a political reform act conflict under FUPC regulations for employment income. Thank you.

So should we take item ten first and just vote for it her?

The council can take the entire consent calendar in one vote. The clerk will just note council member Macias as recusal on that item due to the conflict. Got it. Thank you.

Okay. So I'll entertain a conversation or motion by the council. Motion approved by Parana. Sorry. Second by Bowman. Let's take the vote.

Okay.

Try it again.

Miss Macias.

Okay. It's five o for consent calendar. Takes us to public hearings. And, madam city clerk, item number 18.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor Leon. This these ordinances are approving the 2024 international fire code and the 2025 California building and fire Codes adapted by the California Building Standards Commission in the California Code of Regulations. Notice of public hearing has been given, affidavits of compliance are on file, and we have no written communications.

Alright, so at this time I'll open the public hearing and let the record reflect any comments. And we do not yeah, I'm sorry. I thought that said something. Okay. So we don't have any comments on this. And I'll close the public hearing and entertain a conversation or a motion by the council. Moved by Ms. Bowman, second by Ms. Parada. We'll take our votes.

The item passes five o. It takes us to item number 19, madam city clerk.

Is a resolution to establish new commercial and slash enterprise and wholesale fees for use of Ontario net fiber optics network. Notice of public hearing has been given. Affidavits of compliance are on file, and we have no written communications.

Okay. So there is nobody here. No there are no blue cards. So well, I'll open the public hearing. There's no blue cards if anybody speaks, so I'll close public hearing and entertain a conversation motion from counsel.

I'll make a motion that we approve the item.

Okay. Motion by Ms. Ferrata. Second. Second. By Mr. Wapner. And so we need a roll call vote for this. Is this Okay. So we gotta speak it. So I'll start with Ms. Parag. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay.

So that passes. And it takes us to item number 20, madam city clerk.

This is an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision approving file number PDEV25Dash007. Notice of public hearing has been given. Affidavits of compliance are on file, and we have no written communications.

So I'll open the public hearing. Let the record reflect any written comments. We do have one blue card here for but for tonight's proceeding, I'm gonna first have staff provide a brief presentation on the matter, and then I'll allow time for speakers.

Good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. The project site is located within the Ontario Sports Empire. Highlighted in red there on the screen. The 3.4 acre site is located on Champions Avenue, which is just south of Riverside, formerly known as Hellman Avenue. And it's located in the Convention Center Sports excuse me, commercial zoning district.

On November 25, the Planning Commission approved a development plan, file number PDEV 25,007 to construct a five story two twenty six room hotel with 25,000 square feet of commercial uses. The Planning Commission also adopted an addendum to the Ontario Regional Sports Complex Environmental Impact Report certified by City Council on 07/16/2024. On December 5, Jordan Sessions on behalf of Unite Here eleven Local eleven, excuse me, the appellant submitted an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to approve file number PDEV25007. The appeal focuses on four claims. Claim number one is that the development code requires a conditional use permit.

The city is currently considering whether to amend the development code section five point zero three point two five zero to remove the CEP requirement for full service hotels. Claim limit two is that the reinstated development agreement referenced in the sports complex addendum should have been considered and recommended by the Planning Commission for approval by the City Council. The Ontario Development Code section four point zero one point zero one five applies only to development agreement under government section code sixty five thousand eight sixty four. The proposed amendment and reinstatement of the 02/18/2025 disposition and development agreement, the DDA, is not subject to those statutes. Therefore, the Ontario Development Code section 4.01 is point zero one five does not apply and therefore the appellant's claim lacks merit.

Claim number three is that the sports complex EIR addendum should have found that modifications to the sports complex project proposed in the development plan would increase energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and increase vehicle trips beyond that disclosed in the sports complex T and B Planning Inc, which prepared the sports complex DIR addendum issued a memo responding to the appellant's claims and confirming that the addendum analysis and conclusions are correct and CECO's compliant. In addition, the appellant has not provided any analysis to make any other findings. Therefore, the appellant's claim lacks merit. And then claim number four is that the city took steps towards approval of the development plan before preparing the sports complex EAR addendum such as the 02/18/2025 approval of the disposition and development agreement. The plan has noted some procedure confusion regarding the preparation of the addendum to the Sports Complex EAR and the City Council's planned consideration of the amended and reinstated development agreement.

Specifically, city agrees that the addendum to the Sports Complex EIR should not be adopted nor the development approved until the council has considered and approved pursuant to the adoption of the amendment, excuse me addendum to the sports complex EIR and the amended and reinstated disposition agreement. Therefore staff is recommending that City Council take the following actions. Action number one is to deny the appeal as to claims two and three. Second action is grant the appeals as to claims one and four. And then the third action is set aside the Planning Commission's adoption of the Sports Complex DAR addendum and approval of the development code plan, file number PDEV25007.

And the fourth action is to confirm that consideration of approval of the Sports Complex Hotel Development Plan can proceed only if City Council has approved pursuant to the adoption of the addendum to the Sports Complex AR the amended and reinstated disposition and development agreement. This concludes staff report and I will be happy to answer any questions.

Anybody have any questions for me?

What

slide? I

want them to go back to that slide for us.

Can you go backwards to the picture of the facility? I'm supposing that's what you're talking about? I don't know which slide you

mean. Which?

The prior slide, excuse me.

Perfect, thank you.

Which slide do you want?

No, want that to stay right there.

Oh, want it to stay right there. Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you were asking for. Okay, so thank you, Mr. Zeledon. And I'd like to invite the appellant, Mr. Sisson, to come forward. You have five minutes to present your case or less.

Thank you, Mayor. Honorable City Council members. My name is Jordan Sisson. Land Use Council, Sequo Council to appellants, Unite Here Local eleven. I've become somewhat regular here.

I don't think I'll require the full five minutes, Mr. Mayor. As mentioned in the staff report, this appeal relates to a February 2025 land sale of the site as you heard earlier. This also relates to not only item 20, this item, but also item 22 also on today's agenda. This is also the subject of active litigation which alleges among other things that the city back in February 2025 did not meet the full compliance with procedural and substantive requirements of sequel, the city zoning code requirements and the surplus land act.

Among the key issues central is whether or not the city improperly piecemeal their project approvals and whether or not you have pre committed to the project approvals back in February 2025 when you approved the land sale. It's a key issue before conducting the CEQA analysis. Courts have repeatedly warned against post approval CEQA analysis. I think it's instructive to read what the California Supreme Court said in a permanent case and this is what they say. A fundamental purpose of an EIR is to provide decision makers with information that can be used in deciding whether to approve a proposed project, not to inform them of environmental effects of projects that they have already approved.

If post approval environmental review were allowed, EIRs would likely become nothing more than post hoc rationalizations to support actions already taken. These sentiments were echoed multiple times by the courts, by the Supreme Court as well as the lower courts. Unfortunately, that is what has happened here. When the city approved the land sale back in February 2005, without the addendum, without the other sequel approval hand, without that analysis, without the other entitlements and without compliance with the Surplus Land Act. This is not a mere procedural confusion I think is how the staff report characterized it.

As it was suggested in item twenty's staff report. Nor is it secured by item 22 that seeks to approve a restated DDA, the disposition and development agreement that removes all language of the public land sale which keeps a land sale in place. This is inadequate remedy which does not fully address the substantive procedural issues caused by the city's pre commitment of the approval of the hotel project back in February 2025. You do not have the addendum. You do not have the sequel analysis but there was still the approval of the land sale.

Respectfully, the city's subsequent actions on this addendum tonight and the restated DDA and the other project rules is merely a post hoc rationalization to support the actions already taken by the city. The entire project including the project approvals, entire project approvals need to be reconsidered after full compliance with sequel, the surplus land act and applicable zoning requirements. I thank you for your time. I'll submit it with that. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

Thank you Mr. Sisson. Okay so I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion discussion from counsel. Yes Mr. Bowman. Approve based on

presentation of our staff and this has been vetted very significantly. I feel very comfortable in making that recommendation.

And thank you. Second. Second by Ms. Parada. Anybody else? Let's take the vote. Yeah. Did we need to do another roll call vote for this? This was okay? Okay. Just making sure. Alright. So the item passes five-zero. That takes us to item number 21. This is another one of the items that Ms. Mesias needs to stay out of, if you will. And so I'll open the public hearing and let oh, I'm sorry. Let's hear about the item first, Madam City Clerk.

Thank you. This is a resolution approving California Statewide Communities Development Authority revenue bonds for up to $100,000,000 for financing and refinancing commercial hotel district or project in Ontario. Notice of public hearing has been given. Affidavits of compliance are on file, and there are no written communications.

Okay. So I'll open the public hearing and let the record reflect any comments in, no blue slips. So I'll close the public hearing to entertain a motion or discussion by the council. Motion by Parada. Second by Mr. Baumannan. And so, once again, do we need the roll call vote on this? It says so. Okay. So let's just go ahead and do it this way.

The item passes four and with one abstention.

So One refusal mister mayor. Just just so the record is clear. It's not an extension, it's a recusal. She's not participating at all. So she's left the room just so the record is clear.

Yeah. I got you. Got you. Okay. So the item passes. Administrative reports. That takes item number 22, madam city clerk.

This is to consider approval pursuant to the adoption of an addendum to the certified final environmental impact report for the Ontario Recreational Sports Complex, SCH number 2023110328 of an amended and restated disposition and development agreement between the city of Ontario and Ontario Ranch Hotels LLC for the development of a hotel featuring 226 guest rooms at the Southeast corner of East Riverside Drive and Ontario Avenues. There are no written communications on this item.

Okay. So I'll ask our city manager to give us a brief.

Yes, sir. You heard parts of this, item already, referenced in the previous item in the public hearing. So this item is, the amended and restated DDA for the 200 and, I think two twenty six room dual brand hotel. What we're doing is making sure that the compliance with CEQA is being addressed in a way that we feel does meet both the intent and the letter of the law. This item, the way it's different from what we've seen in the past is that it does remove the language regarding the sale of the property that previously occurred and that the amended and restated DDA does include all of the desired development milestones for the project today consistent with the updated sequel review for the project.

If you have any specific questions about the proposed project, I'd be happy to answer those at this time.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion or discussion on this item.

Mr. Mayor, before before the council does that, with your permission, I'd like to just go over very briefly what the changes in the red line resolution are. Mr. Ochoa made reference to it at the beginning of the meeting that before each of you is a red line of the resolution that accompanies this item. I just want to place on the record and answer any questions the council might have with respect to those specific changes. So on page two, there is an additional whereas which specifies that the proposed redevelopment of the existing hotel is limited to internal improvements and the number of rooms will stay the same. I'm looking at number 23. I take that back, mister mayor. I apologize.

No. No problem. Thank you. Once again, I'll entertain a discussion motion from council. Moved by mister Bowman. Second. Second. By Mr. Wapner. And so we'll take the electronic vote.

Item passes five-zero. It brings us to item number 23, another one where miss Mesias needs to recuse herself.

This is a resolution finding the Ontario Airport Hotel and Conference Center project serves the public interest in making related secret findings. There are no written communications on this item.

Okay. So before we move forward, I'll ask for city attorney to give us an update on what that means.

Deja vu all over again, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your patience. I apologize again. So there's a new whereas on page two, which is three paragraphs up.

And then the real meat of this proposed revisions to the resolution begins on page four with respect to the environmental findings that staff is asking the council to approve as a part of this action. These changes again start just below halfway through the page and continue through the top of the sixth page. And there's a new section seven in the resolution with respect to the custodian of records being, having those documents on file at the city clerk's office. And then of course, we're asking that the council authorize the city manager or his designee to file a notice of determination with the appropriate authorities with respect to these CEQA findings. Happy to answer any questions that you or the council might have.

Thank you.

Okay. So thank you. I'll entertain a motion or discussion on this item from council. Motion by Ms. Parada. Second. Second by Mayor Pro Tem Wapner. Okay. So we'll take the vote. And it is for with the abstention of Ms. Macias, who is not in the room. And so that looks like he hadn't passes. Thank you. That takes us to staff matters, Mr. City Manager.

Nothing to answer.

Alright. Council matters, Mr. Bowman. Until then? We're Yeah. On staff matters. Miss Mesias, do have anything you'd like to talk about?

I do, mayor. Sorry. Just a quick comment. I wanted to bring to our next council meeting. I would like concurrence of the council to move forward with our Jay Littleton Park. In hopes that you guys all agree that we have it at our next council meeting and that it be itemized.

Sounds good. So

you have the concurrence of at least two. So, okay. Then you have the concurrence of four. Okay. So, we'll

move on. Mr. Bowman? Yes. Thank you very much.

I, with all due respect to the council and from past experience of many years, being with our good folks who with respect to each and every one that on the planning or on the council that comes forward, especially at a newly elected person has the opportunity to come forward and make a recommendation of their choice to the council for consideration for majority vote on accepting whether or not, that individual should be indeed, placed on a particular commission. In this case, it would be an opening on the Planning Commission, and that would be one of our good council member here, Daisy Mesilla. So I, too, would like to see that come forward in our next meeting. If there's a concurrence of three to do that, I'd like to see the manager move forward in that direction.

That That concludes one. Okay.

I'll come forward. Miss Watner? Nothing to hear. Miss Barada? Me neither. So I'd like to thank you for participating in our meeting. Our next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, February 3. This meeting is now adjourned. Thank you for being here.