City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody. Welcome to the of the Meeting of the Ontario City Council, first order of business Madam City Clerk is roll call.

I thank you Mayor Leon. The record will reflect that all members are present for this meeting.

Okay, so before we move on, are there anybody have any conflicts of interest tonight? Seeing none, we'll move on to our pledge of allegiance led by council member Parada and our invocation led by pastor Alina Uhamaka from First United Methodist Church. And also if you would mayor pro tem Wattner reminded me of the unfortunate situation with the officer Andrew Nunez that that just happened. Would you please remember him in your invocation also?

Alright. Thank you. Let us pray. Most gracious and loving God, with a grateful heart we gather together to give you thanks for our mayor, our city manager, and all the leaders and members of our city council. We remember the person who's hurting tonight, oh god, but we come knowing that the family are hurting, and we pray that you give them peace.

We thank you for who our members are, their hard work, their leadership, and their dedication. We pray that you will bless them as they will deliberate over the issue that will be in their agenda tonight. Guide them with your divine wisdom in their civic responsibility, their discernment, their judgment so it can be done diligently in a way they can help to create a beacon city full of love, peace, and harmony. With hopeful hearts, oh God, we seek your praise for their works knowing that you alone lies wisdom beyond measure. We ask all this blessing in Jesus name.

Amen.

Alright. Thank you. Before everybody sits down, I would like for you just to take a moment with us and thoughts and memories of a fallen officer. Policing today in in this country is probably the most difficult job that there is. I mean, you have to make decisions in a split second that are life and death, and you put your life on the line yourself every single day.

And I don't know how they do it. It's a special calling, I think. But at at the same time they're judged on decisions that are made. And I'm not trying to be funny, it's almost like a slide in a home plate on the World Series where it's that much of a difference in a split second. And these are kinds of things that occur.

And these people who put their lives, men and women, put their lives on the line every day for all of us, I think it's appropriate that we take fifteen seconds of silence. So please join me. Thank you very much. That's a good idea. All right, so we'll move to public comments.

And we have quite a few, so we're going to stick to the timeframe. You'll be limited to three minutes. You'll be alerted by our city clerk that you have one minute remaining. Remarks during public comment are limited to subjects within council's jurisdiction. And those wishing to speak, including council and staff, need to be recognized before. There cannot be any cheering, shouting, clapping during public comment or any other time during the meeting or we'll stop the meeting and take recess and ask people to leave. But do we have any emailed public comments for the record?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. There are five emailed comments and that have been printed, placed at the dais and will be entered into the record and a public comment for item number five and item number seven of the consent calendar that was also printed, placed at the dais and will be entered into the record.

All right, thank you. So we'll begin with Tina Silva.

Good evening. Again, I will respectfully acknowledge that the city is of Ontario is located on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Tongva and Serrano peoples. We honor their enduring stewardship of this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. I did not prepare a speech like I normally do for you all tonight, and hopefully,

I can get through this. Since June, there's been over a 110 incidents of ICE terrorizing our community. Yesterday added quite a few more. It was a bad and a sad day in Ontario. I'd like to know if Ontario Police Department did any sort of investigation into the shooting on Vineyard last week.

They were there, thankfully, but I don't know if they spoke to any of the community members before they made their statement. Did they make their statement knowing that DHS was going to put a statement out? I'm just wondering because I don't know how you can make a statement statement about something that happened if you don't get the full story from the community and there was plenty community there. Also, I wanted to tell you that the chief in July said he would gladly take any calls from us, the community, to help in identifying masked agents in our city. And I will tell you that several community members have called with no response.

So if I'm a woman of my word and I use my privilege to help my community, if somebody says they're going to help their community, would expect them to follow through with it. I'd like to know what's being done to help. I've come up here time after time after time after time to ask our One city minute remaining. All of you to implore you to help our immigrant community. At the very least, translate some information on the website into Spanish. And I think that's it. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Lois Sick is it sicking?

Sicking. Walking, talking, sicking. It means alert in old Czechoslovakia. We need more alert people these days.

Thank you.

And to that point, the SELA and the Inland Valley Advocates for the Environment demand that you stop the 100 acre illegal truck yard at 7255 and 7435 Schaeffer Avenue in South Ontario. Ontario is the fifth most polluted city in the country, yet city leaders keep sliding siding with corporate polluters instead of protecting residents. The 100 acre Schafer site is a massive illegal truck yard violating its permit, and the city is allowing it. What's the problem? The problem is these are illegal operations.

The site runs as a full truck yard, not the empty trailer parking allowed by its temporary use permit. There were loaded trucks 20 fourseven. Fully loaded diesel trucks come and go daily, in direct violation of the TUP. Seventy 435 Schaefer has no valid permit, yet is allowed to operate as a truck yard anyway. Ignored illegality.

The city of Ontario fined 7,435 Schaeffer $22,000 for operating a truck yard, and still it goes on. Unknown cargo, loaded trailers, which could contain hazardous or regulated materials, come and go. There is worsening pollution. Ontario's air is already among the nation's dirtiest. This adds more diesel exhaust, traffic, and noise. Farmland

laws.

As talking with farmer Randy, valuable farmland and open space are being paved over for corporate use. The community demands that you enforce the law and shut down the illegal truck yard now. Be transparent about permits and the Euclid plan timeline. Protect residents' health, air quality, and farmland. Elect leaders who care about people, not the profit. Ontario residents demand to be heard. Thank you for this opportunity to share comments.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Matt Munson.

Good evening counsel. I'm here to address the counsel on two issues about daylighting and law and order. Daylighting law recently was passed where people should not park on the corner of a street near the crosswalk because it helps protect motorists and pedestrians. If we see each other, then it's not likely that an accident will happen in our city. I want the implementation of this law but I know that it's going to be, you know, hard for the city but we could do priority enforcement with schools and parks.

Other for priority enforcement. And the other issue for law and order is it's simple. For the issue that happened on Vineyard, just don't be a vigilante and then life will be good for the people. And I also implore the city manager to improve the constituent services experience. When we write to the city manager's office, we should at least get a response or a form letter. And that's not happened the last two times I emailed the city manager this year which was disappointing. And I also would appreciate that the daylighting processes, daylighting policies be developed and agendized in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you. Maria Ramos, please.

Counsel. This is my very first time. I am nobody, merely a citizen and a resident of Ontario for the past thirteen years. Had the good experience of actually, miss Parada, assisting me with an issue a few years ago, and I I thank you for that. And so that let me a taste that you are responsive.

You know, since June, it's it's it's been a whole other existence, whole other surreal thing going on. I have nothing prepared, as you can see. But I'll tell you, Thursday, Thursday brought it home. I was on my way to my daughter's house. I took a day off, I work.

I was on my way to my daughter's house to help her with her children and happened to be driving on Vineyard. Had I been there fifteen minutes earlier, I would have caught a stray bullet. You don't shoot at a moving vehicle. Ontario PD has that policy. Why are these people being allowed to do things like that? You may have no control over them. I get it. I understand. It's bigger than you. But you can speak out.

You can see what is reasonable and what is not reasonable so that you can protect your citizens. I vote, ladies and gentlemen. And up to today, I'll tell you, I just kinda chose, you know, the same thing over and over again. You seem like fine people to me. I'm gonna have to start paying closer attention because this is my fault as well. You're not speaking out against these things happening in your city. My safety being put in danger, that's also my fault.

One minute remaining.

Because I have voted for you without really much thought. My life was comfortable. I was busy. I will be retiring in a month. I will not be busy anymore. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Richard Centeno.

Good evening, mister mayor, council. I just wanted to make a comment to the council that I am a business owner, property owner, resident here in Ontario. My family and I, we eat, live, and breathe Ontario. We love our city And we see all the wonderful improvements that are going on and particularly in the downtown area. And the mural project that just went up is absolutely amazing. It's beautiful. So congratulations with that. We all love it. Thank you. I know it's part of the ongoing revitalization area of the downtown area.

Which brings me to why I'm here in particularly because on October 1, had a meeting regarding the proposed seismic safety ordinance. And for a lot of the property owners that are gonna be required to retrofit their properties, it's gonna be a financial burden on a lot of these property owners. And I know the city provides great programs for property owners like the Ontario first time home buyer down payment assistance program, the facade improvement program, which we all benefit from. And I was just wanted to make a comment that I hope that the city council will hopefully consider adopting a program that will help those property owners with some financial assistance so that we can retrofit these properties. And we're only talking about maybe seven seventy eight buildings that need retrofitting according to the last meeting that we had.

And it's my understanding that we're about twenty five years behind in addressing this issue. And it was brought up to us in the meeting that we're gonna be given about three years

One minute remaining.

To retrofit these properties with no grants, no tax credits, no assistance. And it's gonna be a financial burden for a lot of these property owners. So maybe adopting a program to help with some assistance for retrofitting this property these properties will be greatly appreciated. And I just wanted to make that comment and that's basically it. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Sabrina Maldonado.

Good evening. My name is Sabrina Maldonado. I am also a resident of Ontario. I wanna also address the issue of truck traffic in the area of Euclid and Schaeffer. As it is a truck, traffic on Euclid is horrible is a horrible mess. Trucks are consistently rumbling around up and down Euclid as they come off the 60 Freeway. And now you are adding more trucks with these two areas that are calling planning a area four and planning area five. What does the city gain from adding more trucks, congestion on onto Euclid Avenue? All trucks do is create traffic noise, pollution. What do the what do the residents get?

Nothing. What does the what does the council get? This is a question for them to answer. Thank you.

Mr. City Manager, it seems like this is obviously an issue. Would it be appropriate for you to make some kind of statement about what's going on here? Sure, but maybe we would go and get the rest of

the comments because I think we have other commenters on

the same item. We do. I

was hoping maybe we would be able to satisfy them before they came up. We'll go

through it.

I don't mean satisfaction and like you're going to go home happy. Mean like that we're not just sitting down. Okay, then our next speaker is Ricardo Ruueles.

Good evening. My name is Richard. I'm a resident of Ontario. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I would like to address the council regarding the approval of temporary use permits for planning areas four and five within the Euclid mixed use projects.

These areas were designed for trucking as temporary use under the project's plan. However, the city council has approved five consecutive two year extensions for these temporary use permits. I respectfully ask the council and staff to clarify how these repeated extensions align with original intent for the Euclid mixed use plan and the city's visions for temporary development. These continued temporary use contributes significantly to increased traffic along Euclid Avenue impacting residents and local businesses alike. This issue has been raised by the community before including through resident petitions.

I ask that the council agreed to meet with concerned residents to review how these decisions were made and discuss a path forward for truthfully reserves the best interest of our city. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Chris Robles.

Good evening, mister mayor, city council. I have in my hand a letter that was sent to you from SELA dated October 17 that was also sent to our city attorney mister Ochoa. And in it, it's demanding at this point after three months of having been notified by an attorney regarding property on Schaeffer and you're hearing about that from from other residents. We're talking about permit violations at 7255 And 7435 East Schaeffer. I I wanna add a different take on this.

This isn't the first time that residents have come to speak about trafficking or the traffic and the truck traffic. This is an ongoing problem and anyone that uses our freeways, the 10 and the 60 or even our streets are fully aware of the impact but perhaps not the complete impact. The particulates from these vehicles, from these trucks, these diesel trucks spewing out diesel exhaust, they're micron particles that embed in your lungs, and this is why we have health problems in our city, the fifth dirtiest air quality in the country. I personally went to look and evaluate what was going on in the south part of our city because the wind moves. These particulates don't just settle down.

They move through the air. It affects everyone including other surrounding cities. And I had a jaw dropping experience. The thousands upon thousands of trucks moving in and out of former farmland. It is unbelievable. You have to literally see it for yourself. I've been told from farmer Randy about the trucks and the trucks using routes that not

permitted One minute for remaining.

And I went to go look at it and I saw property where you see this little driveway but once you get behind that, there are thousands and thousands of these trucks and they are coming and going constantly. There's no way they're serving Ontario. They're there for other purposes. We want an end to it. We demand an end

to it. Thank you. Our next speaker is Priscilla Garcia.

Good evening, council members and community. On Thursday, 10/30/2025, ERO and ICE agents pulled over a vehicle and vineyard, and when a concerned citizen approached to warn them of students entering the area shortly, handed up being shot. I will not go into all the details of what took place, but I am highlighting this because it emphasizes the very danger our residents are exposed to daily in Ontario. Danger you have refused to acknowledge, mayor Leon. Yesterday, at least eight people were violently taken from Ontario.

And since June, we have had nearly 40 confirmed kidnappings in Ontario alone. Additionally, an Ontario family was taken from IHOP in Upland yesterday, and community members had to move quickly to try and find family that would be able to pick up their children from school. ICPP vehicles were seen transferring people they kidnapped behind the twenty four hour fitness just just yards from the Ontario Police Department. From 9AM to 1PM, our city was under attack, and we never heard from any of you. Instead, OPD helicopters hovered over various kidnapping locations and OPD vehicles moved up moved about their business, which largely consists of harassing on house people.

No city official has bothered to ask how they can be of service to the families of those taken. So while you continue to remain silent, council and mayor Leon, our city becomes increasingly unsafe, our family is fearful, and ultimately, we will see those effects in our city's culture and economy. I ask three things. Like other cities, you acknowledge our city is under attack. Declare state of emergency and move to establish safety protocols for those most most most vulnerable. I also ask for full transparency about what took place on Thursday, October 30 on Vineyard. Ontario PD was called. Did they conduct conduct their own investigation? Why or why not? Did they speak to community members?

Why or why not? Finally, I asked like in other cities, Ontario create a fund provide financial support to immigrant residents and families impacted by the actions of these so called federal agents targeting our community. All of you need to stop ignoring our lived reality and pay attention while we're speaking to you.

One minute remaining.

While you sit here and deny what we experience or skeptically speak about what is taking place, we, the community, are paying attention to what you do. And there is growing number of us tracking how little you think of us, how little you respect us, and how your actions are complicit in our oppression. As we near campaign efforts and elections, we will do what is needed to change the course of our city. Nobody is illegal on stolen land. Black lives matter. Trans people have always existed. Quality health care should be right for Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. Thank you.

Uh-uh. We'll we'll stop the meeting. Thank you. Our next speaker is Karen Howie.

Good evening, mayor Leon and council. On behalf of the San Bernardino County, I'd like to thank you for taking the moment of silence for San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy Andrew Nunez. It's been quite a shock to the county, of course. And on November 18, the special meeting of the San Bernardino board will be held here in the city so that they can get to the services afterwards. So thank you very much for that.

And on behalf of supervisor Hegman, I know I haven't been here for a while, but I do want to invite all of you and your residents to the supervisor's open house, which is coming up. It's an annual event that we hold, and it's a it's a really nice event to meet the supervisor and to just enjoy time with other people in his district, which is the 4th District. It will be held at Chino City Chino Hills City Hall, and, it's on Wednesday, 12/03/2025. It's 05:30 to 07:30, and I do have a few flyers that I will put out there. There is a code here that you can take a picture of so that you RSVP.

And the reason we ask that everybody RSVP is because we provide a lot of food, and we have the taco man. So we hope that everybody will RSVP so we have enough food for everybody. So and everybody is invited. You don't have to be, you know, the president of some organization. You can come. So we'd like to see Ontario there this year. So thank you very much, and that's it. And if I'm not here because we're going on vacation before Thanksgiving, I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Karen. Our next speaker is Jennifer Daley.

Hi, good evening. My name is Jennifer Daley and I'm an environmental with the nonprofit Sale It For A Better Tomorrow. I first learned about 7255 And 7435 Schaefer Avenue, the Euclid mixed use specific plan site from concerned residents who know this property is operating illegally as a truck yard in direct violation of its temporary use permit. In May, we shut down an illegal contaminated truck yard in Southgate, and I'm seeing the same thing here in Ontario. It's a city turning a blind eye to blatant violations while residents pay the price.

For a year, residents have submitted signatures opposing this truck yard to you. For months, I've been asking when development would begin and when this why the city allows ongoing violations of the TUP. In an email today, one of your attorneys at BBK said the city has no idea when this development will start. That's alarming given given Ontario's track record of bait and switch projects. He also said the city is working to ensure compliance, but the the site is in direct violation of the TUP right now.

Eyewitnesses, photos, videos showing trailers fully loaded with potentially hazardous materials and diesel cabs stored on-site, activities explicitly prohibited by the TUP. Outside the gates, trucks lined Schafer Avenue kicking up dust and creating traffic hazards. We know this is the fifth most polluted city in this in the country. This is not any surprise to you guys that these trucks are a problem. This project replaced farmland and was supposed to bring businesses and housing.

Instead, it's become an 85 acre truck yard operating twenty four seven under a temporary permit that can last ten years. That's not temporary. It's a long term industrial takeover. Seventy four thirty five Shaffer wasn't even part of the original environmental impact report. It was fined $22,000 for being an illegal truck yard, yet it's now being merged with seventy two fifty five without environmental review review, public notice, or a permit update, which is a CEQUA violation.

The Euclid Corridor is already overwhelmed remaining. Thank you. By diesel traffic from Amazon and countless other warehouses, Ontario and nearby cities are saturated with trailer yards, many illegal, and residents are suffering the health consequences. The city has already lost public trust. It's no wonder residents are contacting me with concerns about corruption and calls for term limits. There's an obvious issue here with the lack of response to ICE. People have righteous anger about these things. You've turned farming a farming community into a polluted warehouse wasteland. This isn't the first development that's quietly become a truck yard. So what's the plan, guys?

To let this continue for a decade while calling it temporary when it's clearly not? I'm urging you to act now. Revoke the TUPs for 7255 and 7435 Schaefer and end its fake temporary use. Enforce your zoning and environmental laws across the city. Require the developer to submit and follow a timeline for the Euclid mixed use Thank

you.

You. Okay. So, that ends our public comment portion. Did you have anything you'd to add?

If it pleases the council, sir. Pleases me. Certainly. Certainly appreciate all the comments and opinions from the folks who were speaking because we've heard from some of them before. Ms.

Daley, who you just heard from, has been in a running correspondence with city staff for quite some time. It's important to look at the context of the situation. Here in the Inland Empire, we are the logistics hub of the entire Western United States. Warehousing and goods movement is one of the major industries that employs the families of many of the people in this room. And so the idea of saying we want jobs but we don't want any of the externalities that come along with those jobs can add an air of lack of perspective.

Not saying that we should not work to ensure that there is balance and good planning throughout, but again it's important to recognize that there are multi facets to all of these complex issues. For example, we talk about pollution. The Inland Empire being the logistics hub is going to have more than its fair share of trucks. Same way that the harbor of Port Of Long Beach, Port Of San Pedro is gonna have more than its share of air impacts because of the ships. That's just where the ships are.

We are where the trucks are and the panel box trucks are. When you think of pollution in this area, and I listened to Mr. Robles' comments again, when we think of what is contributing, again context is important. You have three freeways, two freight rail lines, and an international airport. All serving not just the warehouses that are in Ontario but all throughout the 2,000,000 plus area that immediately surrounds us.

So to say that it is because of this particular temporary use permit yard is I think intellectually dishonest. We have to deal in policy and policy recommendations to the council, not just opinion. When you look at the transition of land use, when this area, the 8,000 acres that is Ontario Ranch was annexed into the city with the understanding that it would convert from farmland to the build out of the overall city, the understanding was that you would have homes, you would have employment, and you would have that balance that ultimately would take root in this overall area. Why? Because just as we saw or as Los Angeles saw, the dairy farming communities move from South Of Downtown Los Angeles into the gateway cities area, Cerritos, La Habra, La Mirada rather.

They just kept on moving East East because of the growth of population and the investment in building out new communities for places for folks to live and work. You're seeing the same thing happen in the Inland Empire, certainly in Ontario. And that shouldn't be any surprise to anybody considering this area was annexed into the city going back into the 90s. When you look at the land use and what is going to be built, I know the frustration that was stated by some that this is zoned for business park. Well, indeed, much of the area that is the western half of the Ontario Ranch is zoned for residential, for new homes, for new families, for new neighbors.

But when the bottom fell out after the Great Recession, the crash in 'eight, a lot of the farmers that were going to sell their properties that had liquidated their herds or at least transferred those herds to the Central Valley, to the Southwest United States, to other locations other than Southern California where it is, thanks to our weather and our climate, that it is a great place for folks to build community. The housing community couldn't follow-up. And so without anyone to buy those properties, those deals falling apart, those farmers, the long term families, community members that had been there for generations were left just twisting in the wind. What this council or councils previous allowed them to do was to store trucks on there as an interim measure to allow them to generate income while the economy healed. Now unfortunately I think there are some scofflaws that are out there who took advantage of the largesse of the council, previous and even current to some degree, because they took what should have been an interim condition and just magnified it.

And so you had a number of bootleg truck stops scattered throughout the West half of the ranch. And in the wake of COVID and the boom in logistics and goods movement for the region and for the nation for that matter, what you ended up seeing was an increase in the risk and return for folks to say, well, I'll go ahead and violate the zoning laws because it makes more sense considering the amount of money that I'm receiving from the trucking users. And so there's a lot of folks that are to blame on the private sector side of this equation. They just saw it as a cost of doing business, paying the fines, going to court, trying to elongate the process for remediation. Now I don't think anyone in this room would say that we ought not or we ought to do away with the due process for those property owners or for the folks that may be using that property pursuant to a contract.

Because we've just heard from folks who are complaining about the federal government and their attitudes towards folks' rights. And so again, you have two sides to this coin. And the council, unfortunately, has the thankless job of trying to slide right down the middle in terms of protecting the rights of all while protecting the rights of many of the other side of the coin. And that is difficult. When we talk about illegal truck stops, the city council gave the direction to the code enforcement department and the city attorney's office to begin prosecuting and prosecute them we have and have continually closed down.

But it's a little game of whack a mole. When you close one down here, one might pop up over there. At the same time, recognizing the way that the economy is changing and land use has changed, the area that is being discussed by some of these speakers here along Euclid Avenue is moving, had moved to a business park zone land use designation. The market being what it is and I don't think anyone would want to overbuild a certain type of land use for fear of then it just sits empty and doesn't do anything and speaks to the recession and depression of a given area of a given sector. The property owner had petitioned the city that until the market were to return economic conditions were such that I could then build the business park units, perhaps I could step into the breach of rectifying an ongoing problem that exists in the ranch today, namely bootleg truck stops.

So this particular developer petitioned for a temporary use permit. And the temporariness is I think part of what is frustrating some folks. But consider that if you have a illegal truck stop that is parked on the dirt that is leaking hydraulic fluid, gasoline, oil or whatever into the dirt that is not lit, that is not secured, that has any number of issues that are problematic to not just the folks that trying to navigate the streets of Ontario, but also the immediate surrounding area because of any number of illegal activities that would be going on. What you end up seeing is that this developer decided and petitioned that they would pave the surface, that they would fence the surface and secure the surface and light the area and provide fire protection and provide security in an interest of providing that recognizing from a realistic perspective that if this was going to happen, shouldn't it happen in a way that is safe for the environment, that is safe for the surrounding community? Make no mistake, there are a lot of trucks in Ontario.

The trucks that are utilizing this location are trucks that are here already that had been in an illegal truck stop. That's the strange irony to this particular conversation. We aren't importing new trucks. God knows we have enough. They are the trucks that are already here.

And as code enforcement and city prosecutor's office continue to clamp down on those bootleg truck stops, Ideally, we forced them into legal truck stops that would be there only long enough to allow for a reasonable recouping of what the investment was to create a legal truck stop in advance of the business park development that ultimately would follow. I appreciate the comments from Selah. I hope I'm saying that right. So much so that back on June 8, I had responded to Ms. Daley explaining all of this, indicating and now verifying, I think, just last Thursday that there is not a violation as is alleged of that TUP inviting her at that time for a face to face conversation to have that dialogue.

And unfortunately, there was no response. The offer stands. We can have conversation. We can agree to disagree and do so agreeably. But there is a significant difference between a realistic, fact based, reality based, context driven policy decision that the council has to make and opinion from folks that want what they want when they want it. That would be my comments, sir.

Alright, thank you. So that takes us to agenda review and announcements, mister city manager.

Yes, sir. Under item 13, there's an attachment to the resolution approving an amendment to the Esperanza specific plan that's been printed and placed at the dais for the council. Additional copies are available for the city clerk and the public.

Alright, thank you. We'll move on to consent calendar and all matters under consent calendar will be enacted by one motion unless the council would like to pick up on one of those items. I think we have one, no, that's not true. So I'll entertain a motion.

I'll take a motion, Mayor.

Okay, motion from Mesilla, second by Bowman. Take an electronic vote. Consent calendar passes five zero. That moves us to public hearings. Item number 12, madam city clerk.

Thank you. This is a public hearing to consider an ordinance of the city council of the City Of Ontario, California recommending city council approval of file number PDA25Dash003, a development agreement between the city of Ontario and GDC investment thirteen l p to establish the terms and conditions associated with tentative track map two zero seven three zero located at South South Of Chatham Street, West Of Clifton Street, East Of Amherst Avenue, and North Of Eucalyptus Avenue within the planning area 11 of the Esperanza City Pacific Plan. Notice of public hearing has been given. Affidavits of compliance are on file, and we have no written communications.

All right. We do have a blue card from Mr. Robles about this. And so, I'll open the public hearing and let the record reflect any written comments. And so I'll call upon Mr. Robles. Oh, there he is. Yep.

Thank you. Good evening again. Yes, item 12, item 13 and item 15 are related. I don't think the public knows this. So apparently, from my understanding is that there's this property that item 15 is discussing and I will speak on item 15 later.

And they're changing that from some housing to an indoor trucking warehouse. Trucks are gonna park inside this thing and twelve and thirteen are taking over or changing the use of land that was designated for a school and has now been freed up, I have no problem with that and apparently from what I'm told, there's a net gain of houses. The real problem is that there's no presentation. You know this packet has 3,630 pages. Can't believe any of you I have read the entire certainly didn't have enough time to read the packet since it was released on Friday.

That's a lot of material. I think the public and this is the bigger point of all of this besides the fact that you're taking three public hearings to do one thing and that is the public deserves a presentation to understand what all of this is. 3,630 pages, the bulk of it is these public hearings. Thank you.

Okay, so thank you. And I'll close the public hearing. I'll entertain a motion by the councilor.

Mr. I'd have a comment on this if you don't mind. Really what this is all about, when this council set a vision for the Ontario Ranch area, we envisioned it being a walkable community, neighborhoods that would be encompassed, and neighborhoods that would include a school within walking distance so the folks can use that school. Relying on that, the developers put that school on their map and sold houses where the homeowners pretty much were committed that there'd be a school serving their community. For whatever reason, the Mountain View School District decided that they didn't need this particular school site even though we know that there's gonna be potentially at least another 100,000 more people living there.

The problem is that once this land is gone, it's gone. If at any time they just say they wanna build a school, it's not gonna be available. Certainly, I support this item because it's not fair to penalize the property owner and make him hold onto the land. I'm really concerned though that for whatever reason Mountain View has decided not to fulfill their commitment to this city council and to this city in building the schools that they committed to building. So it's just a comment more, it's not against the developer. The developers doing what they need to do. They made the line available to the school district to build a school. The school district changed their minds. No, they're asking the ability to develop the property.

Debbie.

I too is concerned a little bit about the school district. So, I did some study on my own in regards to population. And so, it comes to the Mountain View School District, in 2011 there was 22,500 kids in that school district. And as of today, there's 17,600 kids in that school district. So, it's a net loss of 5,000 kids.

We all know everybody's not having kids like they used to. I know that I'd love a couple more grandkids and I'm not getting them. So, you know, so I really think it's not like we were when we were growing up where the school districts were overburdened, overfilled, where they're putting portables out there all the time. So, I feel pretty good about this, but I too concerned that, you know, Mountain View didn't take a very active stance on this. They didn't represent themselves well at the Planning Commission, but I too believe that, you know, the property owners have a right to develop their stuff.

And, but I feel good about the fact that I don't know that this school site would be overused too much. And, I think we can capture with the existing school sites population around there and serve them well. So, that's my 2¢.

Anybody And what Ms. Watner isn't really sharing with everybody is that many, many years ago, what maybe eight years ago, we actually maybe ten, we met with Mountain View School District and because they weren't going to put in the school that's there now. And we said wait a minute you can't just assume that there will not be children. And when I look at the history even of me, I know that the school district when I was a little kid there were three elementary schools. Now there's not even one.

They actually go to school in another town. Kids from my hometown go to school in the next town because there's no reason to have schools where I used to where I grew up because the population is dropping and kids are the ones who are not being repopulated. And so what they are saying is that they are making estimation. Now the other side of this is that school districts are governed by themselves, elected officials that people in the city vote in and then by the county and the state. That's the way it goes.

Not through the city. We don't have anything necessarily to do other than relationship wise with the school district to get something done. And so we actually put our foot down and said, now you've got to make that at least that one right there. And so they did that, the one right next to Celebration Park. So here we are ten years later and kind of dealing with what do you do with these properties properties and how do you hang them out.

There are also properties in town that maybe not aware of from the other school districts that are still fallow because there's no need. What are we going to continue to do? So I don't like it. I like the idea of having a ton schools everywhere but if there isn't enough, if there are not enough children to occupy them, what are we gonna do? It's just the way it's going. So I'll go ahead and entertain a motion here. Moved by Mr. Wattner, second by Ms. Barata. We'll take the electronic vote.

All right, thank you. The item passes by oh. That takes us to item number 13, Madam City Clerk.

Thank you. This is a public hearing to consider an addendum to the Ontario plan 2050 supplemental environmental impact report for a general plan amendment and specific plan amendment to the Esperanza specific plan. Notice of public hearing has been duly given. Affidavits of compliance are on file and you have one written communication at your seats.

Okay. So I'll open the public hearing and let the record reflect any written comments. And seeing none and no blue cards written to this, I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion or discussion from the council. Okay, motion by Parada, second by Macias. Take a vote.

The item pass is five zero. Sakes us to item number 14. And this is the time and place for a public hearing to inquire about and consider the formation of CFD number 76, Compass Point, and the levy of special taxes therein. Madam city clerk, has notice of this hearing been given in accordance with the Melarus Act? And do we have any written protests that have been received?

Yes. Notice of public hearing was given according to the Melrose Act, and there are no written communications or protests.

Okay. So the public hearing is now officially open. We'll receive and hear any comments. Questions or protests, Are there any persons wishing to speak on this matter? Alright. Seeing none. Madam City Clerk has a report regarding the public facilities and our services to be provided for and within the CFD been received.

We have received a copy of such report, and the report is made a part of the record of the public hearing. Additionally, the county of San Bernardino registrar of voters has certified that there are no registered voters within the territory.

Okay. So, thank you, madam city clerk.

At this time, we will

close the public hearing. The city council will now consider action items a, b, and c, madam city clerk.

Yes. Item a is a resolution of the city council of the City Of Ontario, California, a formation of the city of Ontario community facilities district number seven six, Compass Point proposing that the community facilities district be authorized to levy a special tax and proposing that an appropriations limit of the community facilities distribution be established. Attention for I I'm sorry. Action item b is a resolution of the city council of the City Of Ontario, California, deeming it necessary for the district to incur bonded indebtedness within the Community Facilities District Number 76, Compass Point. And action item c is a resolution of the city council of the city of Ontario, California calling a special election for the City of Ontario Community Facilities District number seventy six Compass Point.

All right. Do I have a motion to approve action items a, b and c?

Yes. Okay.

It's moved by Bowman, second by Parata. And we'll take that vote. Passes five zero. Action items A, B and C have passed. So at this time I'll ask the city clerk to open the ballots and announce the results of the election.

The official ballot has been reviewed and all votes are in favor of the ballot measure and all propositions passed.

Okay. So thank you. The city council will now consider action items d, e, and f, and g. Madam city clerk.

Item d is a resolution of the city council of the City of Ontario, California declaring results of the special election and districting recording our directing recording of the notice of special lien. Item e is an introduction of the ordinance of the city council of the City Of Ontario, California levying a special tax within the City Of Ontario community facilities District Number 76, Point. And item f is a resolution of the city council of the city of Ontario, California authorizing the execution and delivery of an acquisition and funding agreement with the KR Home Cal Management Services LLC, and action g is a resolution of the city council of the city of Ontario, California making a declaration of official intent expenditures with bond proceeds and related action.

Okay. Do I have a motion to approve action items d, e, f, and g? Okay. Moved by Baratta, second by Bowman. I'll take a vote. Item passes five zero. That concludes the proceedings in this evening this evening concerning the formation of the CFD. It takes us to item number 15, madam city clerk.

Thank you. This is a general plan amendment to file number PGPA two three dash zero zero three proposing to amend the Ontario plan 2050 policy plan, general plan, land use map. Notice the public hearing has been given. Affidavit sub compliance are on file and you have one written communication.

Alright. So, I'll open the public hearing here or the I'll open the conversation here that is and the discussion will be started by two blue slips with Chris Robles beginning this.

Thank Mr. Mayor, City Council. Yes. So first off I do wanna thank you for the welcome comments on item number 12. As I said, it would be preferable to the community to have a full presentation by staff.

Item 15 came before the planning commission and apparently came out that the intent of this project is to park trucks. So let's talk about the trucks once again and this industry, the logistics industry. I think a simple purview of the headlines over the last couple of weeks and simply a Google search would bring it up that the logistics industry is moving towards robotics. I don't know where this idea that all these great jobs are around here from the logistics industry. It's no shock or surprise that they

are One moving minute towards

I'm sorry? Oh, one minute remaining. That they're moving towards robotics to replace human beings since that was always the intention, we knew that years ago and therefore this council should be planning for these things. That's what all of this discussion has been about is that it's not a foregone conclusion that there has to be warehouses and industrial complexes in our farmland. It's not a foregone conclusion like a like a shipping down at the port. It's not like that. We could manage much better. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jason Lee.

Good evening Mr. Mayor, Council. My name is Jason Lee. I'm the applicant for the project. I'd just like to thank staff for their effort on this project and offer myself up for any questions that may come up.

Thank you.

Thank you. So Mr. City Manager, do you have anything to add to any of this conversation?

If you just for context sake, it's worth noting that the Amazon building that was delivered here is already completely automated. And it has features a lot of the robotics that Mr. Robles was talking about. I think what he misses or omits is that the change in job probably goes from the lower level, lower skilled job at a warehouse to a higher skilled, higher paid job that has more opportunity for transfer as a technician, as an engineer or other folks that would be working on the systems that are being delivered. There's a great deal of discussion about robotics and I think that is the future of goods movement.

But to overstate one way or another that all these jobs are not going to be there, I think once again misses the point in a pretty significant way.

All right, so I'll entertain a motion and discussion from on this item. Okay, so before we can do that we have a motion by Proto, seconded Bowman. Second

it? Sure.

Okay, whatever. These two are ones. I did want to add something. Mr. Robles, I should probably just have a private conversation with you, but we talk.

There is a moniker called Luddite and that means that these people in the 1800s who, the early 1800s who fought technology that was coming up in that time and period in the 1800s when technology was advancing and machinery and all of this stuff was happening and they were saying you're going to take the jobs away from all the people. Used to folks, I used to work in a warehouse. When I first got out of the Army in the 70s, I went to work for bonds in their warehouse and it was a mess. It was a mess. It was dirty.

I'd come home and take a shower and see the mud running off of me. And I was in a cooler at that. So it contained. We used forklifts that were gas and propane. And it was to me it was just I didn't stay there.

I got another job. It was just tough to work under that environment. And it was by hand. Everything that I worked in the warehouse and we put everything on the pallet and on a cart and into a truck by hand pulling it and everything else. I have been to these warehouses that Scott is talking about whether it's Uline, QVC, Amazon, you name it.

These huge warehouses, they're polished. I'm telling you they have everything and they have people working there. And as Mr. Cho has said, I would have rather worked keeping those machines running and have a technology job that those people are there, tons of people are there, than pulling around a cart every day, getting filthy dirty and breathing noxious fumes all the time, where I had to go get things and climb up to get things out of racks. And today, it comes down and it's all automated and robotic, as you say.

But there are still people who have to keep that place like it is. And when you have machinery, the enemy of machinery is dust and dirt. And technology, the enemy of technology is dust. So you have to take care of this stuff and you have to have people who are highly trained and highly paid, and that's who is now working in these so called warehouses that have day rooms, restaurants, cafeterias, childcare, baby rooms, everything. These places are like contained cities of sorts.

And I think that they're wonderful places to work as far as I can see, and a lot of happy people. So yeah, there are warehouses but it's not your grandfather's warehouse. It's not. And the people who work there, I don't see I talk to them when I'm there and they love it. They absolutely love it.

So I would just say that the Luddites lost in the early 1800s because they were fighting progress. These things are happening as a progress in our world and I think it's necessity. We all want everything instantly too. We don't want to wait forever. And those warehouses are providing the storage and the dispensation of all that stuff. Anyway, so I'll get on with my self and ask for the vote. It's already been moved and seconded. All right, the item passes five zero. That takes us to staff matters.

Nothing to answer.

Alright, council matters. Let's start with Ms. Parada.

I know you like me but you forgot to ask for my comments on the previous thing and I just would like to, no, no, no, that's okay. It's okay. But, I'm going say something a little bit right now. So, in regards to all these wonderful new robotic and higher learning jobs, we need everybody's help here. If you want to go to caschooldashboard.org and throw in your local elementary school, middle school and or high school, you can see what that performance of those schools.

And, it is what it is and here in Ontario, we are trying to do our best especially through our library and our recreation programs by partnering with the school district to get those scores up and to get those kids with the learning, the reading, the writing and the arithmetic so they can go after those high powered jobs. So, thank you for the Ontario Monaco School District for partnering with us and doing that because right now, we're going to we have a program where kids zero to five, they get five books, a library shelf for their house, and after they finish reading those five books, we'll give them another five books. So, we are trying to do the best that we can here in Ontario to get those scores up and to get those kids those higher paying jobs. And then, for my I want to thank everybody for coming here tonight. Truly appreciate it.

Truly appreciate it, all your opinions and listening to them. We do listen. So, thank you for coming tonight. And then, just on a really fun note with the mural thing and thank you for acknowledging those. If you want to go to smartartcities.com, we were actually acknowledged by this group. It's an international group where every month they nominate murals throughout the world. And, 10 of our 14 murals made it on that list. So, you can actually go to that website and vote for your favorite mural. And, I hope you do that and look for the Ontario ones and vote for your favorite Ontario one because we really did have some very outstanding artists. Thank you. Mr. Wagner.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item number five on the consent calendar. You know for many years the city of Ontario pursued acquisition of Euclid Avenue from the State of California. And the reason we wanted do this because we want to control probably the most beautiful street in the country.

And fortunately within the last year we were able to acquire Euclid Avenue. I am so grateful to my council colleagues for allowing me to represent the city at Transportation Authority. On the board, again I wanna thank my colleagues on the board. They supported a request to help fund a project for Euclid Avenue that would synchronize the lights there, make Euclid Avenue smart. All of us get upset that we hit a red light, we hit a red light and we're getting over a million dollars from the County Transportation Authority in order to improve that situation on Euclid.

So I thank my council colleagues as well as my colleagues on the County Transportation Authority Board. While we're talking about Euclid Avenue, and we heard from my colleague Ms. Prada, the murals. Not too often you get folks in the community to step up and want to do something for the community. And these murals were 100% privately funded. The city didn't have anything to do with it. And I'm pretty sure the folks that brought them, they did it because they want to add some culture to the downtown area. They wanted to bring some art downtown. But something that I didn't expect and I'm not sure anybody else is that I've been contacted by some of the folks making these huge investments on Euclid. And they're thinking the council, especially thinking these folks in the community, they're saying that the murals have actually added value to their property.

That it's been a good economic development tool, which I certainly didn't anticipate. So as such, it's not too often folks in the community contribute to improving the property values. And I certainly, I want to say that I appreciate and the rest of the council appreciates what these folks have done bringing the murals forward. So I would certainly encourage this council at some point in the future to talk about maybe allocating funds to assist these folks in an economic development kind of way as well as bringing more public art to downtown. Again my suggestion would be that we ask the city manager to bring it back in the future agenda for potentially spending some city money to help with that.

Mr. Bowman. Yes,

I too, I was quite impressed downtown. You get a chance and I hope many do is go through the town and we do have 10 current. They're just amazing specimens of art. It adds a new dimension to downtown and especially when you're doing a conversion of the downtown, it really infills and really spices up the operation. And even thereafter, many art, much art could be established and painted throughout the community that just reflects history of the community, the fun of the community, businesses of the community.

There's just an endless variety of opportunities associated with that, and I would suggest and support and recommend, as Mr. Wattner has, that perhaps we put together a committee that perhaps, of course, Ms. Perata, perhaps the mayor could be on it, but that would take a look at developing a budgetary line item issue that would really recognize the value that we've seen and continue doing what we have seen out there to our forearm community. I think the value is demonstrated. I think the need, necessity, and certainly the community likes what they see.

And I don't think it gets any better. And I think what has just been said as far as improving property values, what a neat thing for the community to experience as a business owner to have that art on your building and to have mutual benefit to the community and the owner of the property. So I would support and suggest that that take place. And I think where there's a consensus here that I'm seeing that we could instruct the city manager to perhaps have Ms. Parada and have the mayor get with him and then start taking a look at the parameters.

I'm talking about a line item consistently in the budget on an annual basis that would be predicated on funding our activities. Now that's very basic, but that's separate and apart from the 1% that we currently have that's for large buildings and those types of things. Because I think there's an interim need and necessity for us to be able to step in and say, you know what, we need to take this building and that building and really spice it up and really treat the community once again. So I make that recommendation and perhaps if that's potentially acceptable at a meeting in the future within a month or whenever you think it's appropriate, they could meet with a city manager at this point up until then, but bring back to us something in a formal setting where we could take a look at the scope, which needs to be somewhat flexible and potential funding for that that we could potentially have as a baseline and see how it grows and how it, from time to time, if it needs a little infusion or support. But take it from there and then bring it back as an adoption to an agenda that would officially say, by gosh, we've done it.

It's here and we're just as good as San Diego is and what artwork they have and what they do down there, we can do it as good or better. So that's a recommendation that I think there's support for that.

Okay, thank you. Miss Mesilla.

I won't take much of your time, but I couldn't agree with my colleagues up here. It's such an honor to be alongside with you all and just see the community we have just built, to see all these murals in downtown. It brings a lot of the culture and the Hispanic culture out. So I couldn't agree with you more. It's an opportunity for us to continue the good work that we're doing here and good job. You.

Mr. Mayor, I may just to remind the council that the Brown Act does allow the City Council to do what you've just done here which is to form a consensus to direct staff to bring a future agenda item for action at a duty of notice meeting and so the public has an appropriate opportunity to absorb that and offer comments. So, seems to me that the message is abundantly clear to the city manager and we'll work together to make sure it gets on an agenda at the appropriate time. Thank you.

All right, thank you. So one of the other things that we don't think about and I did some, I mean these spectacular. Have my favorites, but I'll just mention one is this. It looks like a picture of a woman, but it's a painting. It's amazing. And I said to the artist, how do we keep somebody from graffitiing this? He and another one of the artists were there. And they said graffiti people tend to leave this stuff alone. And actually, as they've done this across the country, people just tend to leave these pieces of art alone. They get it.

They consider themselves graffiti artists. I call them vandals, but they call them artists. And they said they respect it and that they have ways of touching it up if necessary or coating it if necessary. They said that the coating was very expensive. But I think it's worth it no matter what it is.

We need to protect these things because they're gorgeous and they're amazing. So we need to talk about that too. But what we're going to do to make sure that we if we're going to continue this, how do we protect it? I think we need to thank Mia and Damien, yeah, who have the Holt and Palm business and they're really kind of the people who brought it on by asking the first mural was on their building. They murdered their building and we were like wow that's pretty cool.

So if you are on Holt over here by Palm And Holt and you see that corner, those are the folks who really got behind it and I mean they are really great additions to our community. Also want to thank me and Damian for what they've done. I'd also like to adjourn tonight obviously in honor of Officer Nunez and I've already said my piece about that. So I'd like to thank you for if it's okay with the council can we adjourn in his honor. And then I'd like to thank you for participating in our meeting. Our next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, November 18. This meeting is now adjourned.