City Council - Regular Meeting

REMIND EVERYONE TO PUT A PARKING PASS IN YOUR DASHBOARD IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO. AND THOSE LITTLE SLIPS ARE RIGHT DOWNSTAIRS. WE JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO GET TOWED DURING THE MEETING. AND I'M GOING TO MAKE A STATEMENT THAT I MAKE NOW AT THE BEGINNING OF ALL OF OUR MEETINGS. THIS IS IN RELATION TO PUBLIC COMMENTS. AND IF YOU'VE NOTICED, WE'VE HAD A COUPLE OF ZOOM BOMBINGS THE LAST COUPLE OF MEETINGS. people spewing hate against others. And while we don't like to tolerate that, and the council very clearly stands united against hate and united against love. In love. United in love. Sorry, did I say against love? I'm a little nervous still. United in love, absolutely. We do have to follow... First Amendment rights of free speech and allow people to make comments, but we can try to keep them on to the subject matter of our meetings. And it's a difficult time right now in our country, in our world. Even in Pacifica, we see signs of hateful speech and conversation. I've seen some recently on social media. And it's not always appropriate as an elected official representing the city to call something specific out. But we very much are against this type of language and try to control it as best we can. So with that, I'm going to read this statement. Public meetings are a limited public forum, meaning that there are rules for commenting at these meetings. comments on non-agendized items must address matters within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city, and comments on agendized items must relate to that specific item. If comments do not fall into one of these categories, the city will provide you with an initial warning to stay within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city or on topic. If the warning is not followed, I as mayor will direct the city clerk to cut off the microphone, and throughout this warning system, I'll seek the assistance of the city attorney, Michelle Kenyon, here in the room, in identifying comments not related to the agenda item or not within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city. Okay, and with that, I will read our land acknowledgement. The City of Pacifica acknowledges that we occupy the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. We honor the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples for their enduring commitment to Mother Earth As the indigenous protectors of this land, and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We affirm their sovereign rights as first peoples and wish to pay our respects to the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. Thank you. And Councilmember Beckmeyer, could you lead us in that? Yep. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay.

We have three special presentations this evening to start our meeting. I would like to invite Police Chief Sarah Sua and Carol Tollefson to the podium. And I will read the proclamation for Carol, who is retiring. Great. Thank you. So this is a proclamation of the City of Pacifica in recognition of Carol Tollefson. Whereas the City of Pacifica takes great pride in recognizing individuals whose dedication and service strengthen our community and uphold the mission of public safety. And whereas Carol Tollefson have served for 30 years as the property clerk for the Pacifica Police Department, faithfully serving the department and the residents of Pacifica with professionalism, integrity, and unwavering commitment to excellence. And whereas Carol has received numerous commendations for her diligence, exceptional performance, and professionalism in managing the department's property and evidence room, an assignment requiring the highest level of accountability, accuracy, and trust. And whereas throughout three decades of service, Carroll has overseen property audits, annual inventories, and the daily management of evidence functions with remarkable precision, ensuring that all items are properly packaged, labeled, documented, and stored in full compliance with policy and legal requirements. And whereas Carroll's meticulous handing of evidence safeguards the integrity of investigations, and ensures exemplary service to crime victims by supporting accurate and legally sound case preparation. And whereas Carol's accomplishments are particularly noteworthy given that she performs these extensive duties as a part-time employee, demonstrating exceptional efficiency by managing a workload that in many similar sized agencies requires multiple staff members. And whereas, in addition to her primary responsibilities, Carol regularly supports the department's front office operations by answering phones, assisting community members at the front counter, and providing valued assistance to staff, making her a trusted and dependable resource for both the department and the public. And whereas Carol's exemplary service has been recognized on numerous occasions, including her selection as employee of the quarter, and her recognition as the recipient of the Service Award from the Peninsula Council of Lions. And whereas, through her professionalism, technical expertise, and steady leadership, Carol Tullifson made a lasting and meaningful impact on the Pacifica Police Department and the Pacifica community. Now, therefore, I, Christine Bowles, on behalf of the City Council of the City of Pacifica and all its citizens, do hereby recognize and honor Carol Tullifson for her three decades of exemplary service to the Pacifica Police Department and the community and extend our sincere appreciation for her dedication, professionalism, and enduring commitment to excellence.

Well, good evening, Honorable Mayor Bowles, Vice Mayor Wright, and council members. Maria Sarasou, I proudly serve as your police chief. It is my honor to recognize the remarkable career of Carol Tullifson. For 29 years, Carol has been the foundation of our property and evidence operations. In a role that demands absolute precision and accountability, Carol set a standard that protected the integrity of our investigations and supported crime victims with genuine care and compassion. What set Carol apart was the consistency and discipline she brought to this critical work every day, often carrying responsibilities that many agencies assigned to multiple staff members. Carol, your dedication and excellence have left a lasting mark on this department, this community, and on all of us who have had the privilege of working alongside you. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for honoring Carol with this proclamation. It reflects a career defined by commitment, integrity, and service. Carol, you took great care of this department and the people we serve. That is your legacy, and it will not be forgotten. Thank you.

It's a pleasure to work for the police department for 30 years. And I will be volunteering to come back to help out a little bit. And it's nice knowing everybody and working with everybody. We have the nicest and the best police officers in the county or maybe in the state. And staff and management. So I'll be missing everybody, but I live here, so I'll be around. We'll see everybody at Safeway.

Well, don't go away. I think the council maybe wants to make a few comments, and then we'll take public comments and then take a picture, too.

Well, first of all, I want to apologize that I wasn't able to make the ceremony. I know how important that is to you and to the police department, right? And so thank you so much for all of your service. I can't believe I don't think I've ever had a conversation with you, have I? I don't think so in that many years. Like, shame on me for not knowing you. But it's people like us that, you know, we live in Pacifica, we love Pacifica, and we serve Pacifica. And that's what you've been able to do, and I really appreciate that. Thank you.

It's this type of service and dedication, a sense of duty and integrity that has helped make Pacifica the third safest city. And a lot of that's in part due Exactly to people like you we have been lucky to benefit from your service for these last 30 years And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for all of us.

Thank you I Want to add to what the chief said and what the mayor said in the proclamation and just I'm reflecting after the Lions Club dinner the police fire police sheriffs and fire awards dinner and at which you were honored, and your ceremony a couple weeks ago, I'm gonna add grace and generosity. I think that while one can be direct and clear in one's communication, it can be done with grace. And your coworkers, the testament to you is the coworkers that showed up for you. So I'm just, your generosity of spirit, obvious, because you're already telling us you're coming back. And you're gonna support that same team. So thank you for all that you've given and that you will give continuing to our police department and to our city. Thank you, Carol.

Carol, even though I never personally met you, I just wanted to say thank you for being a public servant for this community. And 30 years speaks for itself. And on behalf of our community, I wanted to thank you. And I hope, I know you're going to come back and volunteer, but I hope you enjoy your earned retirement and have fun out there. So there's always time to do other things than working. Enjoy.

And I just wanted to add, I hadn't met you until this really lovely celebration event at the police station recently. And just how much everyone really loves you was just so obvious in that room. And, you know, the little things that you do beyond the excellent work that means that we can investigate crimes and that things don't get lost, right? Or Or misinterpreted because something's been compromised, which is so important. But, yeah, the way you make coffee, the way you bring casseroles, the way you really care for the human beings that you're working with every day, right? That... um, anyway, I, I, I would say, I know how much you're going to be missed, but I, knowing that you're going to be back, I think eases that, uh, that loss a bit, you know, in, in the department and in the community. And, uh, and it was lovely to meet your husband too. And I'm sure he's looking forward to getting to see you more, um, as you retire and hopefully travel and do, do other things that you want to do in your own time. Thank you so much for, for Three decades of service. I know there was a little distinction because you've got some days of sick leave that you haven't used. But it adds up to 30. And you have been here so long. This is one of the things I learned. Under eight police chiefs. And starting at the Little Brown Church when our police officer was there. I don't think there are too many officers there. and police staff left that worked in that, I can't imagine that building that doesn't have all the modern technology and space that you all have now. So anyway, thank you for seeing us through all that.

You're welcome, and thank you all for thanking me.

So I want to open it up to public comment.

If anybody, I don't think I have any cards, but if anyone would like to speak, you're welcome to come up now.

Or is there anyone on the line? Emily? No?

Okay.

Oh, wait, I see some hands. Just come on up, and then you can fill out a card afterwards. There are yellow cards in the back of the room.

Hey, good evening. I did fill out a card, but not sure why. You guys don't have it, but good evening, members of the council. My name is Linda Conlon, and I am a former instructor of Pacifica Beach Yoga Studio. I'm here to speak about community.

Wait, wait, wait. No, this is just the public comment about Carol's retirement.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I've got your card for that later.

Oh, never mind. My first time. I will sit down. And don't leave, because we want to hear from you. Congratulations, please, Chief.

Okay. Well, then I'm closing public comment again. And Carol and our police staff do come back up and we'll take a picture with them.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love it.

in another minute remember how last time we had a little piece of a moment I saw it in the printed agenda but not for everything yeah okay thank you everyone um if I could get get order back in the room I don't want to gavel um We have another proclamation in recognition of Volunteer Appreciation Month of April. So I wanna invite Stephanie Douglas, Deputy Director of Parks, Beaches and Recreation to the podium. So I'll read this first.

Can I please have quiet in the chambers, thank you.

Whereas volunteers play an essential role in making Pacifica a vibrant, caring, and connected community, generously contributing their time, talents, and compassion in service to others. And whereas April is recognized nationwide as Volunteer Appreciation Month, providing an opportunity to celebrate those whose service strengthens neighborhoods, supports local programs, and enriches city life. And whereas the City of Pacifica benefits from volunteers serving across many areas of local government and community partnership, including senior services, volunteer support nutrition programs, assist in the dining room, deliver meals on wheels, serve as instructors and seniors in action advisory council members, and help with special events and fundraising efforts, ensuring that older adults remain engaged and connected. Parks, beaches, and recreation, youth and adult volunteers contribute through programs such as leaders in training, special events, camps, environmental projects, and community activities that promote recreation, wellness, and stewardship of public spaces. In public works and environmental stewardship, community members work alongside city staff and local organizations to plant and care for trees, maintain trails, restore habitats, and protect Pacifica's coastline and natural resources. In our police department, volunteers serve as reserve officers and in technical and citizen volunteer roles, providing valuable assistance that enhances public safety and strengthens trust within the community. In city commissions and boards, appointed residents dedicate their time and expertise to advising the city council and staff on beautification, climate action, Economic development, emergency preparedness, environmental sustainability, finance, libraries, parks and recreation, planning, and other matters that shape Pacifica's future. And community partnerships. Volunteers collaborate with non-profit organizations, service clubs, schools, and neighborhood groups to support events, outreach efforts, and public service initiatives that care for our residents, businesses, and environment, and reflect Pacifica's strong spirit of civic engagement. Whereas volunteer service builds relationships, fosters belonging, and demonstrates the power of neighbors helping neighbors. And whereas the city of Pacifica recognizes that volunteerism enhances municipal services and reflects the shared values of generosity, responsibility, and community pride. And whereas the city encourages residents of all ages to consider volunteering as a meaningful way to contribute to Pacifica's continued growth and well-being. Now, therefore, I, Christine Bowles, on behalf of the City Council of the City of Pacifica and all its citizens, do hereby proclaim April 26th as Volunteer Appreciation Month and extend sincere gratitude to all volunteers whose dedication and service make Pacifica stronger each and every day.

And I think we should stand up and do it.

So, good evening. My name is Stephanie Douglas. I'm the deputy director of Parks, Beaches and Recreation. And on behalf of Parks, Beaches and Recreation, I want to sincerely thank the council for this proclamation and for recognizing the incredible contributions of volunteers across our city. In Parks, Beaches and Recreation, we see firsthand just how much volunteers do to make Pacifica such a special place. Our programs and services simply would not be the same without them. In our senior services program, volunteers play an essential role every single day. They serve as dining room assistants, helping create a warm and welcoming environment for our seniors. They support homebound residents through our Meals on Wheels program, ensuring people stay connected and cared for. They also share their time and talents as instructors, serve as members of the Seniors in Action Council, and support beloved community traditions like the Senior Rummage Sale. Through this, they truly enrich the lives of our residents. We also see the impact of our youth volunteers through the Leaders in Training Experience and Youth Advisory Board. These young leaders are gaining real-world experience and community service hours while assisting with camps, teen dances, and community events. They bring energy, enthusiasm, and a strong sense of responsibility, and they are helping to shape the future of Pacifica. Across all of our programs, whether supporting youth, families, or seniors, what stands out most is a heart behind the work. Our volunteers show up with compassion, dedication, and a genuine commitment to our community. They help create the sense of connection and belonging that defines Pacifica. To all of our citywide volunteers, we are truly grateful. Your time, your effort, and your willingness to give back make a lasting impact. And this city is stronger because of you. And at this time, I would like to invite, I think we have a handful of volunteers with us, if you wouldn't mind standing. I see you're out there. And if you wouldn't mind coming to the podium. Come on up. Come on up to the podium, if you wouldn't mind. This is your moment. Come on up. Don't be shy. Now, we actually have hundreds of volunteers throughout the city, but they're all working right now. So these are the few that we gave them a little break to come down here tonight to receive some acknowledgement from city council.

Great. Yeah. And we'd love to take a picture with all of you. And Chris Redfield, you're one of those people, too, sitting in the front rows. You have to stand up, too. Stephanie, could you maybe tell us about the volunteer appreciation dinner that's coming up?

Yes. So the Parks, Beaches, and Recreation, we do have over 120 volunteers. So we do specifically host a special event for those volunteers. That will be on April 29th from 530 until whenever the party ends, and it will be at the community center.

Okay. Thank you. And that's for any volunteers on any committee? That is for volunteers specific to Parks, Beaches and Recreation. Okay, thank you. I wasn't clear on that. Okay, would council like to make any comments?

I mean, our city couldn't work without you. So thank you so much.

Yeah, I mean, what else is there to say?

Really, Pacifica, it's the heart of Pacifica. And you see it everywhere. You know, not just in the city volunteers, but in the volunteers across the sectors. And we're super lucky. So thanks for leading them. It sure would be fun to be a volunteer for your department, Stephanie.

It's just great that Pacifica is this way. It's people helping people. It's building community and having the city be able to help pull those kind of people together to build that sense. It just makes us stronger and better. And I appreciate each and every one of them and you for helping keep it together. Thank you.

Okay, I'm ready. I know you guys don't do what you do for recognition. And I see your work on our committees, our parks, I will say that everywhere. So we do appreciate you and I don't think Pacifica will be the same without you guys, without your work. Like we always interviewing people for committees and commissions. And we see so many people with a lot of talent that are willing to put their time into working for the city. So we really appreciate you guys. And we should recognize you not only today, but every day. Thank you.

I was reflecting as I was listening to you speak about volunteerism in the city and how it is. I like to say when we go over the hill for meetings with other cities that volunteerism is Pacifica's superpower. And I think on some level, a bit of our geography contributes to that. I think that idea that we're kind of here to take care of ourselves and each other. And I was thinking about my jobs, the library at Cabrillo School, and this job. And they both started with volunteering, so. Word to the wise, just be sure that you're minding how many hours you're spending and what you're doing. But I think that all of us, the more we do, the more we learn, the more we want to do, we want to give, we need to help. And it's a really beautiful thing to see in Pacifica. Thank you.

It is really wonderful to get to interview everyone for our committees and commissions. And everyone we meet just wants to give back they're just so grateful to live here in this beautiful community and it doesn't have to be very much it could be weeding one day you know the planters always needed or some of the trails and then there you know other jobs that require maybe more specialized knowledge information skill that you know you might have in your in your work and so forth so just encourage everyone to to be involved because every little bit helps make us a better city And while Park and Rec is having this meal on April 29th, Vice Mayor Wright and I with Interim City Manager Carter are in the works of planning an overall citywide volunteer appreciation, probably picnic, a little bit later in the year that we're talking about. So with that, I'll see if there's any public comment. Again, I don't have any cards for this in particular. You don't have to hide. That's okay. Okay, we'll let you know. Anybody online? Okay. I'll close public comment. So, yeah, anybody who's volunteered in the city in any way? Yeah, volunteers, if you're here, step on up.

Get your photo taken.

Ready? One, two, three.

We'll kill each other when we're together.

This break was perfect. That's true.

Okay, and then we have one more presentation from the San Francisco Peninsula regarding their 25 to 28 strategic plan. I'm guessing that you must be John. And then Nova Maldonado, perhaps. You've got a whole crew of people. So I'll let the city clerk share the screen and let you take it away.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Bowles, Vice Mayor Wright, members of council, interim city manager Carter, and Pacifica City staff. I'm John Houtar, president and CEO of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau. It seems like last week we had our August 26 business mixer in the Pacifica community, and we are here tonight to share with you our 2025-2028 strategic plan. Standing behind me are our volunteers, our board members and advisory council, Praveen Poonjia, owner of several properties and manager of hotels in San Mateo County, Marty Searles is our community liaison for many years, managed the Lighthouse Hotel in Pacifica. Kara Newport, a Pacifica resident, serves on our advisory council, CEO of Filoli. Nova Maldonado, our chief advocacy officer, staff of the San Francisco Peninsula. Former resident and our chief sales and marketing officer, Maggie Lang, And Randy Johnson, his company Johnson Hospitality manages the Fairfield in Pacifica. Next slide please. Thank you. Our organization founded in 1971 by San Mateo County hoteliers. We also operate as the region's film commission office and manage the county's farm to table program as fresh as it gets. In 2022, we changed up our marketing to refer to our region as the San Francisco Peninsula, instituted a new funding model in 2024. This past year launched an advisory council, which developed the strategic plan, and our mission now is to educate. Next slide, please. We would be remiss not to point out Pacifica's beauty in our marketing, which is not what we're here to talk about tonight. But just to remind everyone of the beautiful imagery that this community gives us an opportunity to work with, these campaigns generated over 155,000 views, 1,300 reshares, which are very strong figures, especially on the reshare. Next slide, please. And 815,000 impressions, a visit by Honey Trek, these are social media influencers, and a big story picked up by the state agency Visit California. Next slide, please. Our board members, a number of them are here tonight, but just to remind you that we have peppered cities representation from cities throughout the county next slide please and our board advisory council these are advisors to me and to our board on the the pillars of education business tech government hospitality labor, attractions, parks and recreation, venues, and community. Next slide, please. The first pillar of the strategic plan is support destination asset development, and the three supporting themes there are to advocate for significant upgrades to the San Mateo County Event Center, analyze opportunities to develop additional tournament grade sports facilities throughout the peninsula and those two may bring us to developing a tourism master plan to provide uh... recommendations to each of our cities on how their investments could come together and support countywide tourism in a broader way next slide please The second pillar, endeavor to maximize the destination experience, supported by three initiatives, analyze the opportunity to develop an annual destination event that would ultimately be synonymous with the San Francisco Peninsula brand. We will be launching three initiatives this year, a countywide dine-around, if you will, including 14 of our cities, Pacifica also participating. And this is inviting folks to come to our communities and experience our culinary offerings called Flavors of the Peninsula. This summer, we will have the Fire Food Festival at Coyote Point and a companion event, coastside, called Whiskies of the World. So we're trying to balance north-south, coastside, bayside, and really exploit these wonderful culinary offerings that our county offers. Also advocating for the completion of the 500-mile Bay Trail, a few miles in absentia, and work with communities throughout the peninsula to encourage more amplification of all the music and nightlife offerings that we offer. Next slide, please. The third pillar is to continue to build our organization and amplifying our messaging, and that's through working with our board advisory council, being connected to the community, and getting ourselves out there. Next slide, please. And again, a recap here of the upcoming food events, April 23rd through May 3rd, Flavors of the Peninsula, followed by Heritage Fire, Whiskies of the World. Our restauranteurs were emphatic that they would like to own a period of January each year, so we're going to come back January 21st, 2027, and the plan is in perpetuity. we will claim those last two weeks of the month of January because they are historically slow. Next slide, please. And just for your knowledge, again, this has nothing to do with the strategic plan, our 2025 Expedia campaign, very successful revenue by city, but nearly $700,000 in room revenue for Pacifica 3,200 room nights at an average rate of $212. Next slide, please. And with that, we remain here. If there are any questions from council or of my colleagues and advisors and bosses behind me.

Thank you so much for your presentation. Any questions, comments from council?

Yeah, just a question. Did you know... Paul, do you know Pacifica? What do you think, what area of Pacifica, if you know Pacifica, is the most, like, the hanging fruit of tourism? What area do you think?

Boy, there is so many stories to be told. The first, I would say, is its proximity to San Francisco and our advertising campaign, it's kind of wild how quickly you could be on the Pacific Ocean once you land at SFO. That's the low-hanging fruit. The restaurant story we are developing and whether it's the green enchilada or the longer established restaurants at Rockaway Beach. There's so many great stories, the fishing off the pier. When you're speaking to folks who aren't here in California, it's in your city's name, Pacific, Pacifica, and it just screams California dreaming and that California experience.

Thank you.

Well, the loudest clapper just now has stated and coined the phrase, our environment is our economy. And so when you think about Pacifica, you think about the photos that we saw in your presentation, the wildflower bloom at Maury Point. There are so many recreational opportunities. tried to coin my own phrase, Sue, that I consider Pacifica to be the recreation capital of San Mateo County, with surfing, with hiking, with walking, with swimming, with pickleball, not as much as we maybe want, but all of the outdoor activities that we have, including the golf course, which isn't ours, but we're very happy to have it right outside our door. belonging to San Francisco City and County. So I appreciate all of the work that you do to highlight Pacifica and bring forward. One thing that caught my eye with your emphasis on completing the Bay Trail is the ongoing efforts for completing the Coastal Trail and how that might be a companion to that work that we could participate and work with you on. It's certainly something we're looking for every time we're doing a project. How much of the Coastal Trail can we include in this? So those kinds of activities are very important to us. And lastly, I want to thank you also for including historical resources in Mitch Postal and, you know, certainly the Sanchez Adobe is a huge thing. This building we're sitting in has its own history. our little brown church that is now the Coastside Museum, and soon to be, of course, our rail car, 1409 from the original Ocean Shore Railroad. So there's just, and our firehouse, the Pedro Point Firehouse, there's so many interesting things. One other piece I'll mention that is certainly taking, getting traction, and it started with a few pushy people, literally a couple, few years ago, but the amount of murals that we're seeing in Pacifica. And the vision at the time was, you know, having some kind of brochure or reference to go to Pacifica and visit all these murals. And really, they are stunning in all different styles. So, there's that as another feature of Pacifica. And thank you for bringing attention to our community.

Well, thank you, and thank you for all that feedback. We'll definitely incorporate. And I'll just add that we are probably the per capita largest purchaser of Pacifica Jack, and love telling that story. You don't know Jack.

I guess I just want to thank you. You know, economic development is really, really important. And any way that we're able to partner and collaborate and work with folks like you is really important. I'm very happy to see some of our residents here and people who work here. I mean, thank you for all of the attention that you're bringing to our city. And, you know, we have an economic development committee. It would be great. for them to understand the work that you're doing. So maybe you can come visit them at one of their meetings. And, yeah, thank you so much.

Well, thank you. And I'll just add that we do have a staff member, Cameron Newton, who is also our film commissioner, who is traveling for work. Otherwise, he would be here tonight, but he's a Pacifica resident.

I, too, want to reach out and just say thank you so much for all you do. I see you in our community actively promoting us left, right,

center all the time and it's been a pleasure to work with all of you some more than others the ones I haven't worked with yet I look forward to working with in the future thank you so much thank you so much for being here tonight and just educating us all about the work that you do for for Pacifica and the rest of the peninsula right to to highlight all the wonderful things we have to offer to bring people here and I I know we'll be getting a presentation from you later this year about our hotel bid and the advertising and so forth as part of an official contract, right, for that marketing. And so we thank you for that work. And one other idea I wanted to throw out, I was just at a meeting on the peninsula with the Peninsula Health Care District last week about Blue Zones, which is something that they're pursuing as a way to build community health and longevity and so forth. And they were saying that some of the communities worldwide that have taken on these principles and are marketing themselves that way. And I think Pacific is a great example because of all we have to offer for health and wellness, right, in our businesses, in our restaurants, in our trails and other activities here. But one city they worked with had increased their tourist visits by 48%. with that designation. So just throwing out something else that, again, the Peninsula is looking for through the healthcare district. We're not officially a part of that. We're trying to wiggle our way into being a part of that. But the principles apply either way. Thank you for that. Thank you all so much for being here.

Brilliant. I told you when I saw you right after this came out, Brilliant. And I love that the online version is as beautiful and as engaging as the printed version. It's so easy to use. It's so easy to leaf through. If you haven't, I really recommend everyone take a look at this book. And yes, of course, I went, where's Pacifica? Where's Pacifica? And that we're represented well. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Have a nice evening.

Oh, yeah, if there's any public comment on this item. Come on, so you can fill out, okay, and on to, you can fill out a card afterwards, yeah.

Yes, I know some of these folks, and Marty Siles used to be on Rockaway.

Yes, many years ago, what was the young lady that was working for you, or for the hotels? Oh, I forget it.

I forget her name, anyway, I won't forget, but we were trying to become, I would go to the county meetings, as you know how you go to county meetings, and I'm sitting there and seeing this beautiful ocean and Pacific Ocean, and I'm going like, wait a minute, where's Pacifica? And they said, well, you aren't part of it. What do you mean? What do you mean I'm not part of it? And so you had to have a majority of your hotels had to vote to be part of it. And then you had to go to the city of Burlingame for Burlingame, just perfunctorily pass it, and then you became a part of the visitors bureau, and you could be in all the advertisements. So Marty and the young lady that worked for him, very influential.

Sally, Sally.

Sally, yes. Anyway, I worked with Sally. She was very frustrated. But we got it done. We finally got four of our hotels, why they were worried. They felt that they were covered by Half Moon Bay, but we know better than that, right, at this point. And I know John, and he's awesome. And I know members of your advisory board, you are really well connected. So I'm so excited. Thank you for my quote.

I just want to thank these people for all the work they're doing because it's definitely something we need, all the economic help that we can get. And I also want to thank Sue over there. for her many, many times hearing the comment of our environment is our economy. She, I said that a thousand times, and she's absolutely right, and obviously these people recognize that. And then I just want to thank Councilwoman Beckmeyer for bringing up the issue on the coastal trail. But we missed, there's one other trail that's really important, a lot of times gets neglected, and that's our Bay Area Ridge Trail. And that really merges with the coastal trail right where, on Palmetto, right where the RV park is, right there. It comes on that causeway over and meets right there and it merges with the coastal trail. But we do have a lot of missing links, both in the Bay Trail, the Bay Ridge Trail, and the coastal trail. I just wanted to point that out. But I thank these people and all of you for, let's get Pacifica going. Okay, thanks, Mike.

Thank you, Ron. Go ahead. Oh, hi. Javier, go ahead. And again, if everyone can just fill out a yellow card at the back after you speak.

Javier Chavarria, longtime president of Pacifica. And I'd like to thank this special group of people for all the efforts, all the input, and all the improvements that they have brought to Pacifica. I work hand-in-hand with Martin to improve the Lighthouse, partially improve the Lighthouse Hotel. We also work with the Patel Group and his people to improve what is now the Fairfield Inn. And now we're working with Pravin to get a new hotel coming into town. So this is a group that not only volunteers those good things, but make things happen. So thank you. We, as Pacifica residents, appreciate your efforts, your time, and all this wonderful input that you can bring for our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Javier. Okay, I don't see anyone else in the room. Is everyone online? Okay, close public comment. AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE TONIGHT. I LOVE YOU. OKAY. THAT BRINGS US TO OUR CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS.

ONE MORE.

OKAY. CAROL, DID YOU WANT TO SPEAK ON Okay, so moving on to our consent calendar. I'm going to pull the minutes. There were a few corrections I noticed, and I think staff is going to go back and review the recording and bring that back at another time. So are you saying we're going to pull the minutes? We're going to pull them.

Bring it back later?

Yes.

Another day. So Mayor Bowles, just to clarify, for the minutes, item number two will be continued to the next meeting, is that correct? Right, correct. And then Mayor Bowles, just a note on a correction to consent calendar item number seven, the Esplanade full trash capture device project. To read into a record, a correction to the resolution The title should state a resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica approving the Construction Services Agreement with GSW Construction, Inc. in the amount of $1,104,580, authorizing a budget authority in the amount of $1,270,267, which includes contingencies in an amount not to exceed, this should be 15%. of the construction contract amounts, authorizing staff to execute future change orders not to exceed the contingency amount and authorizing the city manager to sign contract documents related to the Esplanade full trash capture device project. Also correcting the now therefore be it resolved clause should state, should be corrected with respect to authorizing authorizes a budget authority in the amount of $1,270,267 to be consistent with the amount that's referenced in the title, which includes contingencies in an amount not to exceed 15%. The correction was 14% to 15% in that. Great. Thank you so much, City Clerk.

WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO PULL ANY OTHER ITEMS OR ANYONE HAVE QUESTIONS? NO? OKAY. I WILL OPEN IT UP TO PUBLIC COMMENT. AGAIN, THIS IS JUST FOR THE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS 1 TO 8. I DON'T HAVE ANY CARDS. IS THERE ANYONE ONLINE? EMILY? OKAY. CLOSING PUBLIC COMMENT. Okay, I'll entertain a motion if there's no other.

Actually, I'd like to make one brief comment. It was nice to see less checks made to PG&E for a change.

Tell us what it was. I missed that.

It was very small, and I'm just pleased.

Probably varies a little bit month to month.

And with that, I'll move to approve the consent agenda.

Minus item two and with this correction.

Yes.

Second. Second.

And with the... No, no, redo. I don't know why.

Okay.

One more time. Redo.

It's the elbow of the chair.

It's what?

The elbow of the chair that did it earlier.

Oh. And with the consent calendar minus item number two and with item number seven as corrected as read into the record, the motion made by Vice Mayor Wright and seconded by Council Member Beer, the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thanks, Sarah.

And that now moves us to public comments on items not on the posted agenda. So I do have a few cards. And we'll ask people to raise their hands on Zoom if they want to make a public comment on items not on the agenda. I'm going to give a few seconds for people to raise their hand. And meanwhile, I'll call up the first three callers, Joaquin Jimenez, Linda Conlon, and Kelly Sandoval. How many people do we have with hands raised, Emily?

There are three raised hands.

Okay. So we'll cut that off at the last. What is the name or number of the last?

There are four raised hands now. The last is for Caitlin Quinn. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Okay.

Go ahead, Joaquin. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, city staff, members of the public. My name is Joaquin Jimenez. I am the former mayor for the city of Fumbe and I'm running for San Mateo County Supervisor of District 3. I have many reasons, you know, I'm running for County Supervisor. One of them is food production. Not many of the cities have been attending a lot of the city council meetings in the county. And we're not addressing food production and food security. And that is a big deal, especially right now, with the high prices of everything. San Mateo County, the coast side, we are the largest farming ranching community in the Bay Area. Right now, you know, the farming industry is bringing about 115, 120 million dollars a year. That's really, that's not that much. You know, we should be getting close to a half a billion dollars. We have the land. We have the open spaces. We have farmers, we have farm workers, we have ranchers, we have ranch hands. But we need to focus on food production. And for many years, I'm not even gonna say decades, that county has not focused on food production. We're actually losing our farming and our ranching in San Mateo County. One of the things I wanna propose, I personally like to eat healthy, fresh, nutritious. We need to reopen the slaughterhouse in San Mateo County. Throughout the years, throughout the decades, we had about six dairy farms in San Mateo County. And I would like to reopen a dairy farm in San Mateo County. something close to our community, that county will benefit. The jobs for our community, opportunity for our community. So I would like to think about food production and how San Mateo County, the coast of San Mateo County, we can do that. And we can bring in half a billion dollars yearly on agricultural industries and ranching industry. So Joaquin Jimenez, Joaquin Murrieta on social media. I am running for County Supervisor. Vote Joaquin Jimenez for County Supervisor, District 3. Thank you.

Thank you, Joaquin. So Linda Conlon? And I neglected to say, so you have three minutes. Come on up. When you hear the first beep, that means two minutes is over. It's your little warning, and then the light will turn yellow, and then it turns red when you're at three minutes. Thank you so much for being here.

Hi again. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Linda Conlin, and I am a former Pilates instructor of Pacifica Beach Yoga Studio. I'm here to speak about community safety, accountability, and to raise awareness and concerns based on documented public information and my own experience working within that studio. I, along with four other instructors, made the decision to leave our positions after seeing repeated hateful and racist content posted publicly from the business's official social media account. This was not private. It came from a business serving the public in a space that should be safe and inclusive. A recent article published by Coastside News on March 25th highlights ongoing concerns related to this business and its operations. These are not opinions. And these are matters of public record. It raises concern about a broader pattern. I'm happy to provide the news article, which has the screenshots of these disgusting comments to the city clerk. Secondly, there is no publicly verifiable evidence that Mr. Antoon holds a recognized yoga certification through major registries such as Yoga Alliance or any other studios offering documented certified teacher trainings. While the business claims that instructors are certified, there are no independently confirmed credentials or identified training institutions listed for him. Lastly, as many of you may be aware, there is a documented history of legal and regulatory violations. Public records and news coverage show that the business continued operating in violation of San Mateo County public health orders during COVID-19, resulting in legal actions, fines, and court-ordered shutdown, which Mr. Antoon did not comply with. As someone who worked there, I believe it is important for the community to have transparency regarding both professional qualifications and business conduct, especially in a setting where people are trusting instructors with their health and safety. This kind of conduct impacts whether people feel welcome and safe in our community. Having the city's name in this business's name reflects poorly on this wonderful community. A question I have, what types of businesses are we allowing and supporting here in our community? I'm asking that the appropriate local agencies review the accuracy of publicly stated credentials, compliance with business and safety regulations, and any additional documented conduct concerns. This is not about personal conflict. It is about documented facts, public safety, and accountability to determine whether it meets the standards required to continue operating in Pacifica. Thank you.

Thank you so much. So Kelly Sandoval followed by Yanan Sun.

Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. Again, my name is Kelly Sandoval, and I'm a former yoga teacher at Pacifica Beach Yoga. I'm here because I believe this is a community safety issue. Yoga studios are spaces that naturally attract vulnerable populations. This includes new students who may be coming in because a doctor recommended yoga to support their mental health, reduce stress, or recover from injury. It also includes new teachers who are just beginning their careers looking for safe, supportive environments to gain experience. My personal yoga practice is 22 years and I have been a teacher for 11 years. I worked at Pacifica Beach Yoga from March 1st, 2025 to March 18th, 2026. When I was hired, I had no prior knowledge of Tommy Antoon's past actions. I was briefly made aware of some concerns after I was hired, but at that time, my focus was on my students and providing them with a positive and supportive experience. During my time there, I maintained clear and firm professional boundaries. I personally did not experience direct issues with Tommy. However, after learning more about the nature and severity of the hateful and violent comments that had nothing to do with anything political, he made them publicly. He made them from Pacifica Beach's yoga social media. And there was a lot. I made the decision that I could no longer continue working there. This is not just about my personal experience. This is about the broader responsibility we have as a community to ensure that spaces promoting health and wellness are truly safe for everyone. When individuals walk into a yoga studio, they are often in a vulnerable state, physically, emotionally, or both. The trust that the environment is grounded in respect, safety, and integrity, the same is true for teachers, especially those early in their careers like Linda, who just spoke, Kate, Molly, and Bob, who were other teachers that quit. They relied on the studio's leadership, which was Tommy, to provide a safe and ethical workspace. When the trust is compromised, it becomes a public concern, not just a private business matter. I'm asking the council to consider the importance of accountability and safety in wellness spaces within our community. We must ensure that environments intended for healing are not associated with harm, whether physical, emotional, or psychological. Thank you for letting me speak.

Thank you so much for being here. Okay, Jana followed by Ron Michael, which is my last card.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Jana. I represent Marbella Link Corporation, a licensed operator at 1987 Beach Boulevard. We have listened carefully to our neighbors' remarks, and we want this council to know every single complaint we have ever received, from police calls to minor concerns, we have response to them. Every one of them, we have record to prove it. Walking through our property today, you will see notice after notice posted. Each one puts their indirect response to neighbors' requests. We have educated our guests. We have implemented rules that go above and beyond what the city requires. We have done this not because we had to, but because we are a responsible management company committed to this community for the long term. The truth is most of our guests are responsible, respectful people, their families, their travelers, their human beings. But we must be direct with this council. What we are experiencing is no longer a neighborly dispute. It is a coordinated champion of harassment. Every time we send a worker to make a correction, police are called. Every routine maintenance visit is reported. No matter what we do, no matter how far above and beyond we go, it is never enough for the neighbor. This is not about safety. This is not about community standard. This is about individuals determined to shut down a lawful, licensed business. through endless pressure and repeated harassment. We have acted in good faith at every turn. We ask this council to see the situation for what is true and to hold all parties to the same reasonable, fair, and consistent standard. Thank you so much. Thank you.

So Ron Michael?

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and staff, and audience. I'm here to speak again, as I spoke earlier about the trails, but I'm talking about, you know, safe pedestrian consideration here. And this is, you know, on the highway, Great Highway and Rockway there, you have on the east side, you have corner of Fassler on the east side and go south and it takes you up to Sebo Lane. I think you know where that is there. Maybe one of the shortest streets in Pacifica. But at any rate, that is an area I just want to put on your mind and since we have a new city manager or something that she could maybe keeping her mind too. It needs to be, needs some work. It needs to be made into what you might call a sidewalk, you know, but I see people periodically, they're staying at the hotels over there, or they're hiking to get up to Cattle Hill or whatever, but they walk along that. It's very unsafe. I hope some of you know what I'm talking about right along that stretch there. And it's just, there's nothing there. Cars coming down, but they, that's the only way, you know, to get there. So anyway, I just want to bring that to your attention so that maybe at some point we'll get into another infrastructure mode, you know, improving the roads or whatever. Maybe you could think about that in particular. It's only about 1,000 feet. It's not a long stretch, but it's not safe, and people are using it. I think we could do better with that there. But anyway, that's all I wanted to say, and thank you very much.

Thank you, Ron. We'll go on to our phone.

The first raised hand is for Cindy Abbott.

Okay, go ahead, Cindy.

Good evening. Hello, Maren, city council members. Cindy Abbott here, plugging away at my taxes so I can't be there in person this evening. I wanted to share some good news about the positive benefits of the implementation of the short-term rental ordinance. Though unfortunately the significant updates to the ordinance are still only providing benefits to our residential neighborhoods outside of the coastal zone, what we are seeing is that the inadequately staffed and not monitored quasi-hotels that have been disrupting our neighborhoods for the past several years are being put up on the real estate market and sold. This is a positive and exciting change. Eight homes are now with families living in them. Five are on the market, and we look forward to new families being there soon. It may not seem like a lot, but every home, every residence in Pacifica is important. Full-time residents and families are returning to our Pacifica community in place of unengaged real estate investment interests who don't shop in our stores, go to our schools, or volunteer to benefit the communities. I hope that the original intention of the sharing economy, with residents offering space in their homes as hosted rentals, continues to grow and prosper here in Pacifica, providing space for visitors and an income stream for actual Pacificans. Please continue to support and work with the California Coastal Commission so that the benefits of this new ordinance can be realized throughout the coastal zone, returning our residential districts to the community. Thank you so much of all you've done so far.

Thank you, Cindy. The next raised hand is for Pete. Go ahead, Pete.

Yes, thank you very much. My name is Pete Adams, and I'm joined with my wife, Doreen Adams. We are the homeowners of 1989 Beach Boulevard. We've actually had residents in Pacifica for the past four years, and as such, really, we're not very engaged in the short-term rental issues that have been going on. Once we purchased our home on Beach Boulevard, we became much more aware of some of the concerns that maybe some of our neighbors have expressed in the past. It was nice to see Miss Sun present today. We have been at our new place for about six months and have yet to meet her. And unfortunately, some of the concerns that we have had have not been addressed or have even been responded to. We frequently have short-term guests who smoke on the property that even though they do have signs, we have to remind them of on a regular basis. We also have issues with parking, people parking in our driveway and having to ask them to move. And we even had an instance not that long ago of illegal dumping after a Super Bowl party. And when I let the property management know about that, unfortunately, I have yet to hear back on their concerns or how that might be addressed. So as much as I think our neighbor would like to think that everything has been addressed and fine or that they're being systematically harassed, I will tell you as a person who lives there, we've been dealing with the daily kinds of ins and out problems of high turnover and short-term rentals. So... And strangers knocking on our door. So with that, I'd just like to thank you for hearing us out and helping understand what it's like to live next door to one of these. Thank you very much for your time and attention.

Thank you, Pete. The next raised hand is for Lila Raniero.

Go ahead, Lila. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Bowles, Vice Mayor Wright, city council members, and all those present in person or on Zoom. I'm calling in tonight to speak on behalf of myself, my family, my neighbors. and fellow coastal Pacificans, particularly those who live on either side of 1987 Beach Boulevard, who continue to be frustrated and exhausted from living next door to unhosted short-term rentals. The revised short-term rental ordinance will not be revisited by the Coastal Commission for up to another year. In the meantime, many of us are dealing with the real daily impacts, noise, constant turnover of visitors, lack of accountability, and the loss of stability in our neighborhoods. These are not occasional disruptions. They are ongoing and deeply felt. We've heard from companies like Marbella Lane claiming that they want to be good neighbors. Unfortunately, our lived experience has not reflected that. In fact, Marbella Lane in the past has hired a lawyer who sent us threatening letters to myself, other neighbors, and Pacificans after we called the police on unruly guests. That is the least neighborly thing I can think of. Many of us have felt intimidated simply for trying to protect our homes and families. There have also been serious incidents involving those guests, including criminal activities such as theft and destruction of neighbors' property. That kind of response and those kind of impacts only deepen the sense that there is little accountability and that residents are left to handle these situations on their own. While we strongly urge you to do everything within your authority to encourage the Coastal Commission to agendize the revised ordinance as soon as possible, we also need action now. Specifically, we need strong and consistent enforcement of the current ordinance. Existing rules only work if they are actually enforced. Without that, the burden continues to fall on neighbors who are left to deal with the consequences, potentially for another year. Please prioritize both. Push for timely action at the Coastal Commission and ensure that the current regulations are meaningfully enforced in the meantime. Our quality of life depends on it. Thank you so much for your time to listen and for your ongoing service to our community.

Thank you, Lila. And the last raised hand that had queued up previously is Caitlin Quinn.

Okay, go ahead, Caitlin.

Hi, near goals and city council members. You know, when I when I saw that Jan and son, the CEO of Marbella Lane was going to speak tonight, I I thought maybe our community was going to finally get that long awaited apology, but clearly not. I find it fascinating that Ms. Sun is playing a victim card here, claiming harassment when her unhosted SDR at 1987 Beach Boulevard has caused nonstop problems in our neighborhood. Parties, noise, trespassing, removal of property, vandalism of property, illegal dumping, defacement of property. Problems started four years ago, ever since Ms. Sun bought 1987 Beach to add to her portfolio of investment STR properties. For months and months back in 2022, I asked for a meeting with her or her husband to talk about ongoing issues, including noise issues that were being caused by her customers checking in and checking out at the property, often waking us up after midnight, sometimes 3, 4 in the morning. Then in March 2023, The property manager Ms. Sun sent out to us told me that the solution to the late night, early morning noise issues was for me to quote, go to a doctor and be put on medication, end quote. Next, we were sent the same bullying, threatening letters by Ms. Sun's attorney that Lila Ranero just mentioned. That's the kind of neighbor Yann and Sun and her company has been. When on October 18th, their customer came onto my property and vandalized our security cameras, Ms. Sun's remediation effort and attempt at being a good neighbor was to allow this same guest to remain at the property for another five nights. If all that is Ms. Sun's idea of being a good neighbor, I'd hate to see the alternative. Thanks for listening, City Council, to the concerns of the neighbors who are forced to live next door to what the city itself has deemed a public nuisance. Thank you.

Thank you, Caitlin. That's the last comment. I'm going to close public comment. And since we have some new people in the room that haven't spoken before, just to let you know, we're not allowed to respond to these items that are raised today because they're not on the agenda. But we can follow up with staff afterwards. So thank you for being here. Okay. That moves us to our public hearing. Item number nine, consideration of an appeal of the planning commission's CEQA determination and approval of the site development plan, permit, tree permit, et cetera, for a project on Bayview Road and Rockaway Beach Avenue. This is a continued public hearing from the February 23rd meeting appeal. And just waiting for Community Development Director Updegrave to come up to the front. And welcome Planning Commissioner Chair Hauser. Again, sorry to make you come back.

Thank you so much for your patience. Good evening, Mayor Bowles, Vice Mayor Wright, and council members. I'm Samantha Updegrave, Community Development Director, presenting the Bayview Calera Terrace new single-family residence. Tonight I'll just give a brief overview of the project information, share the revised renderings from the applicant that are provided in the packet, go through the revised conditions of approval from our last meeting, and conclude with staff's recommendation. So the project site is located near the intersection of Bayview and Rockaway, this odd shaped vacant lot. It's about 26,000 square feet. It has a general plan designation of low density residential and is zoned R1H, which is single family residential hillside. And it is surrounded by residential development. The proposal is for a 3,100 square foot single family residence with a 668 square foot attached three car garage. Associated improvements, the project also includes removal of a protected Monterey pine as well as an accessory dwelling unit. The project is considered a housing development project, which is defined as two or more residential units under state law. So, for example, a single family residence and an accessory dwelling unit. Because it's a housing development project, it is subject to certain provisions of the Housing Crisis Act, which limits public hearings to a maximum of five after an application is deemed complete. as well as the Housing Accountability Act, which limits the ability to deny housing development projects that comply with objective standards. Just a quick overview of the hearing history. We are on the fifth hearing for the project. It was first heard by the Planning Commission in April of 2024 and continued. It went back to Planning Commission in December of 2025. Planning Commission approved the project and added conditions of approval. Later that month, an appeal was filed, and it came to City Council on February 9th. And the item was again continued to February 23rd. The Council considered, oh, wait, sorry, on February 9th, right, on February 9th, the Council denied the appeal and approved the project subject to revised conditions of approval. and asked to have the project come back to review those conditions. At the February 23rd hearing, council considered the revised conditions, requested additional rendings from the applicant, revised two conditions of approval, and continued the item for deliberation. And that's where we are tonight in April for the city council to consider the appeal. And again, this is the fifth meeting, so the council must take action tonight to either approve or deny the project. City Council requested additional renderings from the applicant to use as a visual aid to inform their deliberations. Specifically, they requested a bird's eye view of the subject site in three dimensions to illustrate building massing in relation to site grading, as well as revised driveway rendering showing accurate slope, retaining walls, guardrails, driveway curb, and windows of nearby residences. So this is, I'll just step through them. They are all in the packet. A view from Bayview at the front property line. And then the side view showing the windows that council requested. Stepping up the driveway. looking back down the driveway toward Bayview, and then into the aerial bird's eye view 3D renderings. So again, this is from Bayview. Oops. Looking at the site from the side. And then the council also requested revisions to two of the conditions of approval, adding to condition number five to include in the improvement agreement drainage as well as retaining walls and other related improvements. So that addition is shown in red. And under condition number 48, to include issuance of a building permit. So no grubbing or tree removal shall take place prior to issuance of a grading permit, two, issuance of a building permit, or three, recordation of the improvement agreement. And with that, that concludes my presentation. Based on the fact that the project meets the objective STANDARDS OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND GENERAL PLAN, STAFF RECOMMENDS THAT THE COUNCIL MOVE TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION TO DENY THE APPEAL OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION DECISION AND APPROVE THE SITE DEVELOPMENT PERMIT AND TREE REMOVAL PERMIT SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE REVISED CONDITIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE RESOLUTION. AND THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. Are there any council questions, clarifying questions for staff at this time?

I'll reserve my questions until after public comment.

Okay.

Okay. Well, with that, I believe we'll have a presentation from the appellate.

No, we'll have three minutes.

All right. There will not be any presentations. There will be public comment period. Oh, oh, oh, okay, sorry. Invite the appellant to speak and present for up to three minutes is what I'm told here. So is there anyone from the appeal team that would like to make a comment? I see Carol coming up.

We would first like to make the comment that our legal team was made aware this afternoon that they have an opportunity to make a presentation and then we were made aware that they couldn't make a presentation so we would like to have clarification about that because our legal counsel would have liked to be here but they were not aware of that possibility.

There's a three minute period for comments.

Okay, I will go ahead and start with the public comment then. First of all, I'd like to focus my words on a summary of areas that have not really been addressed by the applicant and the builders. First of all, we're going to be talking about the driveway and the code violations, which have not been addressed. We've looked at the new packet. So this is a legal question that we're still challenging our applicant to address. The new rendering actually shows a strip of grass and is now putting more pressure actually onto 125 Bayview. So instead of actually becoming or addressing the issue of the pressure on the hillside, it's actually adding to it. So we really challenge the applicant to come back with a better or more appropriate rendering because now it's even worse than it was before. So again, we're looking for putting the appropriate measures into place to make sure that the drawings are accurate and that the retaining walls that need to be put up are in reality put up and to code. Despite the applicant in this climate of housing shortages wanting to, and we understand the need to put things through the Planning Commission and get things developed, The law clearly in the state of California does not allow people to shortchange the due process. So there have been so many years now of this going back and forth, and people have said, well, why is it taking so long? Well, part of the reason has been because these things have not been addressed properly. So that's why we're urging you to send this back to Planning Commission and get these aspects resolved. I believe I might have a couple more seconds here. Yeah, you've got another minute. Okay, another area that I wanted to address, I know you've gotten multiple letters regarding all of these issues, and I trust that you all have had an opportunity to look at them. One of the final ones I wanted to talk about that hasn't been addressed is the air quality and environmental standards. I know you've heard about the CEQA, the initial study that was requested but then it wasn't done, but then nobody said why it wasn't done. But in addition to that, despite the presence of multiple well-recognized emission sources identified in the record, the City has conducted no air quality analysis, there have been no Bay Area quality measurement thresholds, and no mitigation measures for air quality. So in conclusion, I just want to reiterate, we are not against this project and haven't been. We urge you to send this back to the Planning Commission for an appropriate legal review. Thank you.

Thank you, Carol. Okay. And at this time, I'll invite the applicant. I believe Javier Chavarria is here. You also were able to speak or present for up to three minutes.

Good evening, council members and members of staff in the public. I'm Javier Chavarria, the engineer and representative for the applicant, Mr. Robert Benda and John Spanker. As we have expressed in many occasions, the renderings are visual aids, not construction documents. The renderings are accurate from the topography and the imagery point of view. The grading plan, the drainage plan, and the landscape plan are the documents that will be used for construction. And what you still have in your hands is for entitlements only, are not final drawings. Final drawings will be prepared, scrutinized, reviewed, and peer reviewed by all the city engineers and city staff. So we believe that we have complied with all the aspects required for the project. Our expert soils engineer, a very reputable firm with many, many years of experience in the Bay Area, has deemed the project adequate. The civil engineering has been done by two offices, C2G consultants and by my office, and we both have concluded and agreed that the drainage and all the conditions are adequate. So I urge members of the council to consider the long-standing of this project, and I understand and I appreciate the concerns of the neighbors, and I do share those concerns of doing a project that will be beneficial for everyone, but I believe that the applicant has done everything that they have been asked to, and they have prepared a set of documents that are ready to be approved and ready to be moved forward to the building permit phase. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, so at this time, if there are any council questions for either the appellant or the applicant? I have a couple for the applicant, if you don't mind coming back up, Javier. I think there's still some confusion on the part of the neighbors about the driveway and the retaining wall on the right side of the driveway. If staff can start by just pulling up the rendering. I think it was slide seven, the first one.

Perhaps the next one shows better.

Yeah, and they both show a little bit different because the first one doesn't show a curb on the right. And so I was looking carefully at your grading plan and the curb on the right seems to vary between about a foot or a foot and a half high off of the roadway. along next to the house, and then it gets a little taller in the back where the driveway kind of dips down below grade. And I know you've shown grass here next to the house. I think part of their comment is that there's actually a paved sidewalk along there, and I think they're concerned that the construction of the driveway might affect some of the construction that they have existing, either their path the house but can you can you just speak to that just in general and then and then I think it might be helpful to look at your site sections again just to explain to the neighbors

Sure. Both renderings that you're seeing are coming from the same model, just from different angles. There is no retaining wall on the right side of the driveway along the house. It's just a curve. It's six inches to 12 inches in some sections at the beginning, and basically that is to create a separation between the driveway and the adjacent property. As you mentioned, when we're going up on the driveway, the driveway starts getting lower than the grade. So there is a three and a half foot retaining wall at the very back of 125 Bayview where it intercepts the property at issue. So along the side of the existing residence, there is no retaining wall per se.

Okay. So the driveway itself is pretty much at grade and here all along the house, right? So That's what you're showing. Correct. So there is no retaining wall supporting the driveway. It's just a curb to keep the wheels from going off. Correct. Okay, thank you.

And the water.

And the water, right, that's flowing down. Okay, and I really appreciate you having shown the windows there in the house because I think, for me, I was concerned about the cars and the headlights maybe shining in But, and the applicant can, or the appellate can speak to it. I believe the lower window is into the garage and not into a habitable space. There was one more, and if you're still concerned, I mean, we can, the site sections, actually, and those are on page 372, maybe, Sarah, if you don't mind pulling that up for a quick second. Again, as Mr. Chavarria said, the technical drawings are more accurate than the renderings, right? So that's where you'll see the exact height of the curb in relation to the driveway as you go up the road. So I did review those carefully before the meeting tonight. I'll just give Sarah a minute to...

I apologize, I'm just having an issue. The laptop wants to restart. Oh, okay.

And maybe while your computer is restarting, Chair Hauser, if I could just ask you a question. And this, again, is something that was raised in some of the recent public comments and also in a newspaper article about whether the project needed CEQA review. And I think at an earlier planning commission, the commission had asked for staff to consider that. But then when it came back to you and the geotechnical report was done,

That was one of the questions at the continued planning commission hearing. That was one of the reasons that we continued it. We wanted to understand if there were unusual circumstances. Staff, especially our city attorney, did a full analysis on that. They came back with information, and I would let our city attorney jump in if I misrepresent this. My understanding from that explanation was it's hard to say that this site has particular circumstances based on our general plan maps when every single thing surrounding it is an existing single-family home and that this is the true definition of the type of exemption that staff analyzed was appropriate. So I would ask Ms. Pisano if she has anything to add.

Ms. That's correct. The single-family home is subject to a Category 3 exemption under CEQA. What the Planning Commission had asked for originally in the meeting was there is an exception to that exemption. And that exception says if there are unusual circumstances, then the exemption wouldn't apply. So we went through the analysis, we provided confidential memos to both the Planning Commission and the Council outlining our analysis, and our analysis concluded that the unusual circumstances exception did not apply. And so, the exemption applies. And when the exemption applies, there is no CEQA review because it's categorically exempt.

Female Speaker 2 And to the questions about air quality, that would only be analyzed if CEQA review is required. Female Speaker 1 Correct. Correct.

Female Speaker 2 I would also add, however, that there are air quality requirements for construction, demolition, and earthwork. And so, there is a standard condition of approval INCLUDED IN THIS PROJECT THAT THE APPLICANT WILL PREPARE THE DUST CONTROL PLAN PER THE STATE STANDARDS.

OKAY. THANK YOU. SO THERE IS SOME PROTECTION FOR THE NEIGHBORS. YES. Yeah, so maybe you can just kind of just really quickly walk us through. I know the one on the top left starts at the street, and then they're kind of walking your way up. And I think the ones that are probably the most interesting to the appellant are the ones where the house is next to them. So the one in the top middle, for example. I don't know if you can zoom in on that a little bit. City Clerk Coffey. So I know these are hard drawings to read for people who aren't necessarily used to reading technical drawings. And, Christine, if you wouldn't mind just, like, speaking up just a little bit. Oh, sure. I'm just having a hard time following you. And I want to make sure I can. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. So, Mr. Chauvery, could you maybe just explain the drawing on the top right where it shows the existing house? So just to show where the driveway is in relation to the grade and the curb.

Yeah, absolutely. What we've done is we have provided a very good amount of cross sections. Think of the driveway like a loaf of bread. In each one of these sections is where you're cutting that loaf of bread in different locations. So we have started what it says 0 plus 17. That means 17 feet from the curb. So that is where we cut that first section. And then on the left side, we have a retaining wall that is approximately three feet high, and that is facing the driveway to the left. And then to the right, we have about a six inches retaining wall and a six inches curve. As we're moving up the driveway, we have a station zero plus 20, so that is only three feet up. It's basically the same condition as the first one. If we move down the sheet, it will be Following that grade, the image on the right side that it says zero plus 80, that is 80 feet from the curb, basically a little over the back of the existing house at 125. At that point, basically the driveway meets the existing grade. As we're beginning to go towards the rear yard, Station 100, we see that the grade starts going up a little bit. And if you'd be so kind to perhaps scroll up on the drawing. The other way. I meant down.

And just to point out to other people, those hatched lines, that's where there's dirt. that they're taking out.

And then, as we continue, on Station 120, which is the upper right side, we see that the grade at the rear yard of 125 is becoming a little taller than the proposed driveway, because the driveway is maintaining that slope that is required by the fire department. So therefore, we have about an 18 inches retaining wall on that right side. And then Station 1 plus 40, which is basically at the rear property line of 125, has a retaining wall that is four feet tall between the neighbor's yard and the proposed driveway. So in no condition whatsoever, the driveway is higher than the existing grade. At all specific areas, the driveway is equal to the existing grade or lower than the existing grade.

And there's nothing that undermines the house or construction next door because where you're building these taller retaining walls is the open space backyard.

That is correct.

You're retaining that soil. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I think that's really helpful. And then I had one other question. question. This is something I missed the first time on Don't Go Away, Sarah Packett, page 370, just two pages up. Yeah, so right here. So if you can confirm on the right side where we see this T-shaped hammerhead and that is surrounded, it's hatched on the plan and it's surrounded by a dashed line. So my understanding is that, which is 120 feet wide, 70 feet deep, is the Are the required dimensions that the fire department require for this turnaround?

Yeah, the intent of the dashed line was to represent the dimensions of the fire turnaround. So that area is going to be no parking area. And as I said, the hatch area is a representation of the minimum requirement for a fire truck to turn around.

Okay, and that should be... besides cars, there shouldn't be construction that encroaches in that. Okay, so Sarah, if you can just zoom in where it says existing chain link fence there, kind of in the middle of the page. So right under the E of existing, that's what that stands for, E in parentheses, chain link fence, You can see, actually, the dash line goes beyond the retaining wall. So, my guess is that this is something that you'll need to adjust in your construction drawings to actually meet the clearance requirements from the fire. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So, I just wanted to get that in the record just to make sure the fire department was aware when they're reviewing these drawings in the final round. Okay. Does anybody else have questions for... or should we go to public comment?

Okay, thank you very much. You're welcome, thank you.

Okay, so I will open public comment. I currently have three cards, so if anybody else wants to speak, please fill out a card in the back. And anyone online, please raise your hands. I'll give you about a minute, and then we'll cut off people online. So we'll start with Greg Jones, followed by Carol Fregley, and then Ron Makel. And again, those are the only cards I have. And Emily, how many hands do we have raised at this point?

There are none. Okay. All right.

Well, we will cut it off then and cut off the verbal public comments online. Yeah.

Thank you, City Council Members. I appreciate your time and your consideration to review this project. We know it's a very complex project. My name is Greg Jones. I live at 154 Baby Road, directly across the street. I live there with my wife and two real estate girls. And my driveway stares right up the driveway in the proposed project, so directly across the street. So there's a few things. Number one, the driveway, even on the technical drawings, is shown at 18 feet. And I know the fire department has allowed them to go from the 20 feet standard to 18 feet. But that does not take into consideration the curve that Javier talked about right there. So six to 12 inches curve he just said on the right side, maybe a six inch retaining wall on the other side. Now we're down to 17 or 16 and a half feet wide driveway of clear space. That does not meet code. That should stop the project immediately. The renderings again show the tree, tree number one, the maple tree, which as it currently stands, only six feet on the right side of that, where the driveway currently sits, is open, not covered by the tree, if you look straight up the driveway. So even to get to that 18 feet, you're going to have to cut down that tree, or most of that tree, to an unhealthy state. And I know that is not on the current easement of the property. That should also stop this project, period. And even in the drawings you just showed, another comment, we've looked at the blue curve line going into the driveway before. If you look carefully, it's It's wider in the driveway on a bay view than it squeezes in the middle. It's about 75% tinier. I measured it today. I don't think a fire truck gets narrower as it makes a right-hand turn. Next thing is there are three cases that we sent in writing in 2019, 1693 Higgins Way, 2020, 277 Kent Road, and 2020, the Odstad Project. that all show that a driveway is a structure when it's built on the ground, as has been argued by our lawyers in the past, and therefore requires the five-foot setback. Again, the drawings we looked at showed a 4.75 setback between the proposed driveway and 125 Bayview. I don't think that should go forward either. And finally, I'll get to my most important thing, which is safety. Again, I'm worried about 350 truckloads of heavy dirt, thousands of pounds of dirt, coming right down, again, right at my driveway, going down the steep rockaway, endangering the neighbor at the bottom of the hill, and that's a big concern for me and my family. I mentioned before, I don't want my driveway used. I'm going to have to build a fence or a gate, unfortunately. I will do that to prevent any trucks when I'm not there during the day working from entering my property and possibly damaging it. And so I ask you to consider the technical and the safety issues, and I ask one big question is who will be responsible when property damage or a landslide or flooding or other disasters happen while this project is in flight. We saw how much rain we got just this past weekend, nowhere near close to a 100-year flood, but that is a huge, huge risk for us in the neighborhood and for the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Carol, followed by Ron, and then John.

Good evening, City Council, and thank you again for giving us this opportunity. Recently, I looked at an old real estate listing for this Bayview Calera property and realized that to a prospective buyer 10 years ago, it must have looked like the world's greatest find, at least on paper. The sketches and architectural renderings were beautiful. Perfect home, beautiful view, gorgeous landscaping. But this many years later, after countless modifications and redesigns, endless discussions and sleepless nights, trying to make this project work in our geographical location is still like trying to get a turtle to fly. Something that looked good on paper but can't be actualized has been reconfigured and reworked. Plans have been revised and resubmitted to the Planning Commission and then reviewed by the City Council in multiple meetings while neighbors worried about how to keep natural and man-made disasters from happening during every possible phase of construction. And all this because the buyers do not want to lose the money they invested based on an artist's rendition of something that cannot and should not be built. I understand that, and I have enormous sympathy for them. But my warning would be caveat emptor. Throwing money at the problems will not make them go away, and taping wings on a turtle will not make it fly. Anyone who purchased property like this has fallen for bait and switch marketing play. The product advertised is not readily available, so you're going to get something else. Actually, it's really just false advertising, and in this case, the buyer is not the only one taking the hit. The Rockaway neighbors are the real victims, as we have seen. The many incarnations of Bayview Calera are of little consolation. We still have to worry about potential safety hazards from runaway trucks carrying tons of removed soil and about concrete being transported up an incredibly steep hill. We still have to think about potential lawsuits if our properties are damaged in the process of drilling, pile driving, and pipes being dug underground. We still have to contemplate drainage issues, mudslides, cracked foundations from runoff during the construction site during rainy seasons. We still have to fear the removal of foliage and trees that are actually holding down the ground around our homes. We did not buy the dream and the artist's rendition of the impossible. We bought existing homes and became part of an established community. We would welcome others to join us in doing the same rather than trying to impose fantasy over reality. Thank you.

Thank you, Carol. So Ron, followed by John Horvath, and then Susan Wu.

Good evening, Ron Magel. Oh, boy, what a complicated one this one is. Sometimes they're that way. In the planning commission, sometimes I was on there and you feel like a pincushion sometimes. And same with you.

This is a tough one.

I have a sympathy that goes out to all of us here tonight. And my sympathy really goes out towards mainly for the neighbors. I know a couple of houses there that have this beautiful landscape, natural thing behind them, the trees and all this stuff. And I went through this back in the mid-90s. I had six houses built. A subdivision was built around my place. In our eastern, out our windows facing east, we had a beautiful field. You know, it used to be an old farmhouse there, and it's an apple tree, and it was all kind of, we used to see deer out there all the time then, of course. big subdivision come along. The neighborhood managed to kind of cut it down a little bit and change the orientation and all this stuff. But anyway, I feel sorry for these people that are gonna have to deal with all this trauma that they're gonna end up going through and the fear of these massive construction vehicles coming up that steep street. It's a bummer. It's a bummer all the way around. I sympathize with all of you, but mostly with the people who are going to have to deal with the collateral damage that this is going to impose upon them. That's all I have to say. It's a conundrum for sure. Thanks.

Thank you, Ron. John, followed by Susan, and then Gigi Chow.

I'd like to kind of step back to the beginning here and talk about the process and how some of these classifications were done. If we go back to the Feb 9th meeting, the Planning Commission talked about treating it as a housing development project to get it under the Housing Accountability Act. But at the same time, they talked about it as a simple single-family residence to qualify for a categorical exemption under CEQA. So these two positions are not consistent at all over time. So basically, the Planning Commission can't have it both ways. The other issue is that with the HAA as a housing development, if the legislative body had wanted to include single-family homes and ADUs, they could have said so. They could have amended it. And now it's up to the courts to interpret this. But it's not up to the city to make this determination of what's in there. And if we go all the way back to the summit 2011 geotech report that was included in the Fed 9th agenda packet, I don't think that we saw this for the April 2024 meeting when CEQA was being discussed and it was after that meeting determined that they were gonna go for the categorical exemption. In the cover page of that report it says, special concerns for this site include potential hazards of seepage, seismic shock, and differential foundational movement. And those are like typical residential conditions. So the categorical exemption does not apply with these types of unusual circumstances that were cited in the report. That's been cited by the council numerous times as in the agenda packet for, you know, Feb 9th, going back to, it was done in 2011, that far back. And then finally on the classification point. So the driveway that was not classified as a structure in the former renderings, if somebody had seen that built with that driveway going up, five feet away from Vera's house, covering by the back of the house, covering the main floor windows, like any man would have said, this is a structure. But again, this is classification. It was not classified as a structure. And it seems like it was all merely to allow, you know, to get around these regulations. So I don't think this is fair to the community. The fire marshal explained his kind of methodology in the Fed 9th meeting also. He said, where you cannot meet a prescriptive requirement, propose an alternate with trade-offs, and acknowledge many such approvals occur because sites would not be buildable. That's not the standard of care that I was expecting. I was expecting something else. Fire trucks are more nimble. They're safer, whatever. Thank you for your comment. Thank you. Appreciate it.

So Susan Wu, followed by Gigi Chow, and then Francis Flannery.

Thank you, council members, for hearing us once again tonight. I just wanted to say that I realize that Pacifica needs more housing, but this particular one house has perimeter of 10 plus neighbors. So if it's not built right, it's going to affect a lot of people. Not to mention the street that it's on, Bayview Road. I live on Bayview Road for almost 40 years. And in the 40 years I've lived there, I've been in five car accidents without it being in the car. I mean, two were Amazon drivers. Just come on Thursday morning and you can see the garbage man having a hard time honking and telling us to move our cars because they can't get up the hill. So you're going to have two years of trucks coming up and down that are bigger than garbage trucks. So it's just going to be a nightmare. And everyone says, yes, we can sue them if something happens. But it's going to be two years of this. And the final thing I want to say is the driveway, we have different pictures and all that. But I just like to turn things around on people to get the other side perspective. What if this house was going to be and this driveway was going to be built next to your houses? your own house. Would you like that? I mean, is it going to work? Is it legal? Am I going to see this driveway right outside my window? Right? And only have a little curb? But I don't think so. I think there's retaining walls and edges and stuff involved in this that the pictures don't see. Because it's a big difference from the first picture to the second picture. Or the second picture and the final picture. And I'm not an engineer, but it's like, wow, it went from being this steep to kind of flattish. But if you walk the site, you'll see that it's very, it's steep in some places. And it's like to put this driveway right next to the house, how would you like it if this was your house? I mean, I'm sure the property value on that lower house is going to go down because everyone's going to see it and say, holy cow, I'm living next to a driveway like that. All right? So thank you. Thank you very much for hearing us.

Thank you. Gigi, followed by Frances.

Hello. I'll keep this short. I was just wondering if there are any soil runoff or erosion issues resulting from the construction. If the applicant would be responsible, which I hope they would be, Have they demonstrated any documentation showing that they would have sufficient funds in escrow to cover such costs, which could be very substantial? So that's all.

Thank you.

I'm Frances Flannery. I own 115 Bayview. I have a question about the setback. There's a rendering that shows that there's only 4.75 feet between the southern house and the requirement is 5 feet. So I wonder if someone can address that for us.

Thank you. And then city attorney, I have a card from Vera but she spoke as part of the appellant so I don't I don't think I can allow you to speak, Vera. Okay. So those are all the cards I have. We'll close public comment and bring it back to council.

No, there was nobody online, so we cut it off.

Okay.

Yeah, I do.

Are we going to start? Oh, sorry. There's one more card. Okay. All right. I'll allow it. I'll reopen public comment for one more.

Julie Vest.

Good evening council members and staff and all of you that are here. I thank you for your service greatly. I have two letters from neighbors. The first one is from, that I'll read, is from Jane Nicholson, 828 Rockaway Beach Ave. Attention, City Council. My name is Jane Nicholson and I live at 828 Rockaway Beach Ave., just along the road from proposed development. I am opposed to the Calera Bayview project. At the last meeting, the lawyer and the engineer representing the project were the two proponents of this project. They are not community members and only stand to make money. Pacifica should not be paved over in the name of greed. Pacifica's green space is what draws people here and makes this town special. I believe this development would open the door to more developments that would overtake the natural beauty surrounding the area. The development will cause drainage issues and potential mudslides to the surrounding houses and neighbors. Public safety is a concern that was brought up at the last meeting. The road to the property did not have the correct width and turning area for emergency vehicles. I ask you as our community representatives, I ask you, the city council, to vote against the massive profit-driven development. Thank you, Jane Nicholson. The next one is from Andrew Bland that is on Rockaway Beach. I am a Rockaway Beach resident and I would like to once again express my opposition to the proposed development at Bayview slash Calera, just off of Rockaway Beach Ave. Part of what makes this area of Pacifica so special in all the pristine natural space we have to the north and south. This proposed development to the north would potentially open the door to more developments that would eventually overtake all the natural beauty surrounding the neighborhood. If the wild space surrounding Rockaway Beach is paved and developed, we will all regret it one day and we will lament the fact that what was once underdeveloped wild space has been replaced with condo developments and monster homes. I attended a meeting earlier this year during which this development was discussed. The only people who spoke in favor of this project were the lawyer and the engineer, two people who stand to make significant money if this project moves forward. Is my time up?

Thank you, yes, your time is up. I appreciate your comment. Okay, I will close public comment for the second time. So there are two things for us to review tonight. So one is reviewing the appeal issues that were raised, deliberating and voting on those, whether there are any substantive ones. And then also, because it's a de novo hearing, we can discuss anything else about the project that we have concerns about. One thing I was thinking, and if you have questions, we don't have to follow my thoughts, but that maybe we, because a lot of these are handled within the appeal conditions, that we could sort of tackle them, you know, as we go. They start on packet page 335. But if anyone has any general questions.

I do have a question about the setback.

I have a question about the setback. Because I look at the code and it doesn't say that actually a driveway, it doesn't say anything about driveway. It's kind of like, it's a loophole, I would say, that it doesn't address if a driveway is considered structure or what is it? Because if it is, it will have to have the setback, like the other one in the front, the rear, on the rear, and also on the side of whatever structure it's going to be putting in. So this is kind of like, I would like to know where in the code it's clued DRIVEWAY FROM SETBACK.

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER ESPINOZA. THERE ARE NO SETBACK REQUIREMENTS FOR DRIVEWAYS, SO PARKING ACCESS AND DESIGN STANDARDS ARE IN, I BELIEVE IT'S ARTICLE 28, THAT TALKS ABOUT THE LOCATION OF PARKING, THE WIDTH OF DRIVEWAYS, AND SO FORTH. AND THERE ARE NO SETBACK REQUIREMENTS FOR DRIVEWAYS. And they're not applied anywhere in the city to driveways.

I feel like we need to go back to the code and make sure that things like that are set up. That way we don't have to go over and over. And I think this is why this project is taking so long because everything is an exception and we don't have a clear reason understanding of what is the right thing to have. That way, when someone applies for anything similar, they will know what is going to happen. Because I drove to this property, and to be honest, this driveway is practically encroaching each side of the property, so each side of the property doesn't have anything, so it's gonna be right at the edge, and possibly it might be an encroachment there. Especially the driveway is very narrow. And I'm not sure if this is gonna be like, if it is the 18 feet, which is supposed to be 20, that is an exception to have 18. So, Have we measured the whole thing to make sure that it's 18 and that it's not encroaching any of the two properties, especially the property on the right side, which is, they're the one complaining. The other people saw part of their side. So, I mean, the backyard.

So there are I think two questions in that. To the first, there are no setback requirements for driveways. And I say that with 100% certainty. So that is not in the code. In terms of the driveway width, this particular access is a fire access. And the standard is 20 feet. And the fire code has provisions that allow for various exceptions. And so in this case, the North County Fire Authority has reviewed and Chief Wittener is here who can speak to this more. And in exchange for the reduced width, they've provided a hammerhead turnaround. And so that's outside of the zoning ordinance, but Chief can speak to that more directly.

Good evening, City Council, City staff. Regarding the driveway, the director is correct. Typically, the minimum fire apparatus access is 20 feet. The jurisdictions throughout the state and throughout the country, it is very routine to reduce those widths for single-family dwelling driveways because of the use of the space of a single-family dwelling lot and the lower hazard classification. So jurisdictions throughout the state, I'll just speak locally to the three cities that we serve. Actually, I'll expand that to San Mateo County. You look at the minimum construction standards for San Mateo County and others that I'm familiar with, It's very common to reduce that minimum 20-foot width to less than 20, 18, 16, so totality of the circumstances on the individual lot, so it's a case-by-case basis. In this case, we felt like reduction to 18 feet was reasonable, plus the applicants proposed and are going to provide a grooved concrete driveway

a substantial expense with a full fire department hammerhead turnaround which provides us adequate code compliant access for the project well thank you i just want to make sure that everyone is is on the same page and people understand that this is an exception to the 20 feet opening and that we make an accommodation for this project, I guess?

Yes, ma'am. We make accommodations on a case-by-case basis on numerous projects. We look at every project in its own merits and on a case-by-case basis. And I'd like to say for the council's pleasure and our citizens that are here tonight, once the plans are submitted officially for construction, these will not only be plan checked and reviewed for code compliance thoroughly, they'll also be subject to field verification. So it's not just a matter of something put on a piece of paper. This will be verified in the field before it's ever approved.

Thank you.

Sure.

And just as a related question, and this ties into the appeal question about a variance, but you allowing a different equal driveway width that's reduced per the normal code is not something that we would approve as a variance, right? Because that's within the fire code and your own departments, whereas variances are typically granted to planning code, municipal code, those types of issues.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you for clarifying. So in this case, we use what the law allows for in Chapter 1 of the California Fire Code, similar to the building code as well, state regulations, and alternate means or methods. Basically, it's If you can't comply with a prescriptive requirement of the code, you are allowed to propose an alternative or performance-based method. And if that method is reviewed and determined to be an equivalent to, then we would generally accept that.

Okay, great. Thank you so much. You're welcome, Ann. And to the question about the 4.75 feet, for Director Updegrave, my understanding is that's the difference the distance between the property line to the home at 125 Bayview, the retaining wall and the driveway can be built up to that 4.75 feet because that's all on their property. As long as they're not encroaching on their property, there's not a problem with having the 4.7. It's really the other house that was built a little too close to the property line, most likely. That's correct. Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Well, I mean, the whole issue is the driveway, in my opinion. And it's just awful. And I would not want to answer someone's question. No, I would not want that driveway to be built next to my house. And every time I see a picture of it, it makes me feel so bad and then there's but what can we do about it and so that's the frustrating piece of of this kind of project because there's the law and what we can do and then what we can't do but every time I look at it I'm like oh my god why would you why would it be built that way I still don't understand it my simple mind doesn't understand that right and and I actually looked at

other cities codes and even San Bruno requires a five foot step back for a driveway from a property line. So there are things that we can do. I mean, there's a good bit of our municipal code that's old and that hasn't been updated in a while. And, you know, we've made a few of those changes based on things that we've learned from other projects, like how you measure height. So you can't build up 30 feet of soil and then measure height from there, right? And so that this code about fences and retaining walls and so forth so that you're actually measuring the height from the lower part instead of allowing an infinitely tall wall. So we, I think we have a lot of cleanup and that is certainly something we can consider, but, um, you know, if a driveway had to meet setback requirements, I mean, there's a 20 foot front setback requirement for every house, right? Like how would you have a driveway that, that, didn't encroach in your front setback.

Right.

I mean, it doesn't make sense, right? So I think this is where we don't have something in our code that we can point to, unfortunately, that would prohibit that.

I looked at your guidance.

Are there issues that you guys want to talk about? I think we made it clear in our last deliberation that the fire access does need to be 18 feet wide clear of the curbs and so the driveway will encroach more to the neighbor to the north and that is part of what needs to be sorted out with the the agreement and the easement, but that is not something for us to sort out here. We were told that's between the applicant and that property owner at that other house.

Could Samantha Updegrave please speak to tree number one?

Can you remind me which tree number one is?

The magnolia tree.

At the bottom of the driveway? Yes. On the neighbor's property? Yes. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Vice Mayor Wright. That tree, the council did discuss it at a prior hearing, and I believe added a condition of approval. Let me see if I can pull that up real quick. They believe they added a condition of approval that would require if it does need to be removed, that it be replaced at a two to one. ratio consistent with our tree protection ordinance.

Can I ask a couple more questions? In terms of the liability piece for any potential damage caused by the construction project, how is that typically handled?

There is a condition of approval, a pretty standard condition of approval related to repair of roadways and sidewalks and so forth that are damaged. The Planning Commission did also add a condition requiring a video survey of the existing improvements in the area to provide visual documentation of the existing condition.

How many conditions of approval are there?

I believe 48.

And there's been a lot of concerns raised by the neighbors. I know Planning Commission made a lot of efforts to address each and every one of those concerns. I know additionally we have done so. Are there any of those concerns that you think we have not addressed through conditions? Yes.

That's a good question. I think that's for the council to decide.

I think we've attempted to address each and every one of them through the conditioning of the project was more or less the point of the question. In terms of legal liability in the event that we do deny this appeal, what are the legal consequences of that? That's for either Sam or Michelle.

Well, I mean, I think there are serious implications if the council moves forward with denial, but of course that's always within the council's authority to deny. I can't sit here today and talk to you about all of the potential claims that could come up. I wouldn't want to highlight those for anybody. But yes, I think there would be legal exposure if the council were to deny it tonight.

Any objective standard that you can think of?

I'm going to extrapolate what I think that question was, which is, does the project comport with our objective design standards? And I think that by the virtue of the fact that staff has recommended approval and planning commission has recommended approval, if there were any standards that were thought of as not being met, by definition those would be subjective because there would be a disagreement between the council, the staff, and the planning commission. I think case law supports that. So from an objective design standard, I think what is in the municipal code has been analyzed and the project comports with those standards.

My last comment will be just to thank the Planning Commission staff and the public for bringing all these issues to our attention so that we can try to address it through conditions. And that's the end of my questions. I have a couple.

Go ahead. I would like to discuss the condition that council placed and I'm going to rely on Director Updegrave to figure out what slide that is or what part of your presentation that was, where we added a condition about drainage, I think was the word we inserted.

That's condition number 45. City Clerk Coffey, it's slide number 16, if you're able to pull it up. And condition 45 was added by the planning commission to require an improvement agreement with the city to ensure that, you know, construction wouldn't start and they do grading and then just stop and leave the site unprotected. And so in condition number 45, the council added the word drainage just to ensure that that was included. So that's prior to the issuance of a grading or building permit involving grading, retaining walls, or slope disturbance, the applicant shall enter into an improvement agreement with the city to require the completion of the retaining walls drainage and other related improvements or the retaining wall improvements. and shall provide security in amount necessary to complete the retaining wall improvements as determined by the city engineer. And the agreement shall be recorded against the property prior to issuance of a grading or building permit.

So that condition is really about returning to the best of the ability if the project is abandoned? Correct. Okay. The reason I ask about it is because We received public comment in writing asking, and I think it goes a little bit to the question Councilmember Wright just asked a minute ago, about the impacts to other neighbors. And in this particular public comment, they referenced that condition we just discussed, but took it a step further. And they were asking that the bond be large enough to cover any failure of the retaining wall for the development. So I think that's a different issue than put it back the way it was to the best of your ability after truckloads of dirt have been removed and a wall built. So can you address that at all from the Planning Commission standpoint? What discussions you have had? for my edification and that of the public, with building projects like this, what is the insurance, if you will, for the neighborhood? Sure.

So an improvement agreement is something that is defined in our municipal code, and it's really quite cumbersome. It would happen, it would be recorded on the property, and would happen as a condition prior to any of the grading and construction start. And the reason that the planning commission thought that this was such an appropriate form of agreement is because of the securities required. So there are bonds required in case construction stops or there is a safety concern where the city has to call the bond and go in and complete the work. But if you look in our municipal code, at the end of the work, those bonds are replaced with a warranty bond. And that warranty bond is what lasts beyond to make sure from a time standpoint that the improvements are done properly. And that is all in section 10-1 of our code under improvement securities.

OK. That's helpful. And that would address retaining walls. Would that address drainage as a result of any improvements for site drainage, that kind of thing?

It does with the council's insertion of the word drainage, which I think was a really adept insertion. I wish that we had written it like that from the get-go.

Well, I thank you for that because I feel a little bit out of water on this kind of thing. You know that. That's why I ask the questions that I ask. And so I now am asking my co-council members and our planning commission chair and not staff. Is there anything we've missed? Is there anything that, you know, we put that drainage bit in there and I think it was a good, I agree, thank you for acknowledging that. I think it addressed specific concerns raised by the neighborhood. Hearing about the warranty bond makes me comfortable in regard to the question that was raised in the public, by the public comment I referred to. A failed retaining wall is not something that a downhill homeowner should have to worry about, is the quote from the public comment. And I don't want that. I mean, the neighborhood is already worried a lot about a lot of things. And we can't do a lot about it, as Council Member Beer stated so well. So it puts us in a difficult place. Thank you for acknowledging that, Ron Makel, because... I know you sat in this chair on the Planning Commission and have been in similar situations. Well, maybe not this chair, but one of these chairs. So I ask our thoughts on is there something we've missed or there's a nagging feeling that, well, if this piece was included, I mean, I know 48 conditions of approval is a lot. There's a lot in there. We can't do a setback because it's not part of that code we can't deal with the driveway any other way because it's really not part of building code it's part of fire code so what else is there what else can we do is there a trench drain at the bottom of the driveway there is yeah trench drain is that what you said yeah in other words all the water coming rushing down that driveway is it collected up

put into the stormwater system.

And not shooting across the street to someone else's driveway?

Not shooting across the street or shooting down the hill.

And the other thing the Planning Commission wisely added was maintenance of some of the drainage capturing devices, because they do need maintenance. Otherwise, they get blocked. And so I really appreciate you adding that, because we need to make sure they're working properly. I know this is a very steep site. I would be nervous if this was next to my home too. Professionally, I just want to explain to everybody that when a project like this, you have to hire a geotechnical engineer. And I really appreciate that the applicant, the summit engineering report had me worried too. But there was a second, I forget who did it, but a second geotechnical report, new borings that were done. And just because I work in this profession, I can tell you that whenever you get a geotechnical engineer involved, you know, these professionals have to have their own liability insurance. And theirs is some of the highest around because of, you know, potential issues and liability. And so they tend to be really conservative in the design criteria that they put on a project. And you'll find that the project will be very expensive to build because they're involved and because there's this extra safety factor usually. And it's not just how the project is designed, but that geotechnical engineer has to be on site for inspections and has to sign off to the city. So it's not just the city and the city's building official, but a real professional who is on the hook for liability and and his or her license for years has to sign off on that. So I'm not worried about that. And I think the other caveats that the drainage has to actually, the drainage off the site has to be less than what it is now. And just the fact that right now you've got drainage that's just sheeting right to all of your homes. And it is going to be managed and dispersed and will actually hopefully help the drainage issues and cracks to your retaining walls and so forth that you're seeing now. But what I really want to encourage you to do is take pictures of everything you have now on site right before the project starts. So you have something to point to if you see changes. The architect engineer have liability insurance too. That's usually a seven-year protection. And then the homeowners, if it's something later, right, if their property does damage to yours, then my understanding is, you know, they're on the hook for that, too. So, yeah, it seems dangerous. I mean, it's on these steep hillsides, and we have a lot of rain coming. This winter is maybe going to be a super El Nino we're hearing, you know, which is we all... Some of us remember what happened in 1982 and other years here, right? And so the other thing I asked of staff, there's typically a grading moratorium, so grading work isn't allowed to happen in the rainy season. And perhaps a staff member, I don't know if Roland is here, can you speak a little bit to the grading moratorium and just some of the timing, right? So they're If this is approved tonight, they'd still need to be getting their building permit, which takes some time before getting a permit. And how does a grading moratorium on such a steep site fit into actual start of construction?

Good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor, city council members. Roland Yip, deputy director of public works slash city engineer. So the grading moratorium from the chief billing official occurs from October 1st to April. And there are situations where the chief billing official may allow for a grading permit to still be issued and their circumstances behind that. But if they were to try to start construction during this time for all the grading, it would not be allowed to try to progress through the entire grading activities throughout this timeframe. It would be more like I conducted grading all through the summer, There are some things, and we may want to allow them to proceed in windows to button up the site to prepare for the winter. You wouldn't want to deny them a permit if they had some circumstances which led to some work being done in this time frame to just allow them to complete it, and then the site is buttoned up, and there's less erosion concerns, and then they can proceed with the winter and the rains. So there are circumstances which we might blend and lead to it, but even the applicant's plans have shown that they want to do the grading, there's a note on their plans to say that grading is to be conducted during the summer season.

Okay, and you mentioned something that it's not typical to grant exceptions to the grading moratorium on steeper sites.

That's correct. Or just in general, that is not something that the city would want to do, is to grant a grading permit during the winter, even if it was flat. And that would trigger all sorts of additional inspection fees from our inspectors. Instead of visiting the site like once a week, you're visiting the site almost every single day and checking winter reports every single week to see if they can proceed. It would be... A permit that's not granted for a month, it would be a permit that's granted for like a week. And it would be revised every single week or two.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. And the building permit plans, you know, obviously the plans that we're seeing now are not complete. There might be changes. There will be changes with the fire department, as we know. But those plans are available to the public for review. Okay. as the construction documentation is finished and approved by our building officials, if requested. Is that correct?

That I may have to defer to the planning department, because the building department is also under some director up the grave.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Bowles. Approved building plans can be reviewed in person only. and they can't be duplicated.

Right. But the neighbors can see what has finally been approved before the construction starts, ideally. Okay, thank you.

Before you leave, if I may, Mayor. Yeah, of course. Deputy Director Yip, if you could help me understand, and maybe I'm in the complete wrong geography for this, but How does the location of this project relate to the area on Rockaway Beach Avenue where we've had ongoing continual drainage issues due to spring? You know, Mary, what I'm talking about? I don't. It's on the lower part of the road. And I know I at least walked away from a couple of years ago, three years ago, maybe more, feeling good that we were going to have a solution because the city was doing work already and tearing up that road to fix a pipe and the road was going to be repaved and it was going to improve the situation. That's kind of my recollection.

That was my understanding.

Okay. So with that in mind and with a recent experience of our lower Lindemar wastewater work, and the impact it's had to streets. Is this in the vicinity of where that work is going to take place? The work that Council Member Beer and I are recalling? Is this on the way to Bayview?

It's the stormwater drainage.

Yeah, yeah. It's the stormwater drainage that we're talking about, but I'm thinking where I'm going with this is work's going to be done on that street. It's going to improve the street, not the whole street, not all the way up to way up, but a good chunk of the street was going to be improved. And that made me happy for the neighborhood. And I'm wondering if the timing of that work is going to be one month later, construction trucks are going to drive up and down, up and down, up and down and undo that work. Do you see where I'm going? I do. And I know these things, nobody plans for that on purpose. Believe me, I know that. But it doesn't change the fact that it happens. And so what is the remedy if that occurs? Because trust me, folks who get a street fixed, even if it's 10 feet of their street is properly repaired and fixed, it is like hallelujah celebration and it is crushing. when it gets wrecked or cut into or damaged by some subsequent work. And the feeling is always, well, why couldn't they have thought of that? Now, in this case, this is a private development. I realize it's not the city doing work with the city, but I'm still concerned about what is the timing of that? And maybe that's irrelevant. I guess my real question is, is there any provision for If several, many trucks of dirt going up and down and bringing materials, it's hard to imagine causing further damage to Rockaway Beach Avenue in certain parts. But if it happened, what is the remedy? Is there a remedy? Because this is a pretty fragile road in general.

There's many questions there. I know. And statements.

So I'll help unpack it all you want, but you see where I'm going. General, how are you going to plan around this?

I'll try to start with the first one. I believe there is a Rockway Beach Avenue natural spring that is in our Storm Dream Master Plan that you're referring to. This project, however, is not in our five-year CIP. In terms of prioritizations for storm drain projects, there's a couple of them that are in there right now. There's Clarendon, road drainage improvements, one on Montecito, West Lindemar, and Monterey. Those are the four major ones that have been included. In terms of priorities, there's probably one that's going to be up there is the Lindemar area just because of the commercial areas that are around there. And we have tried to get grants for that project. So in terms of that coming up, it's unlikely that we're going to do Rockway soon because there are other projects, storm drain projects, which are likely a higher priority. There are also not allocated funds for storm drain projects. So storm drain projects are very, very difficult to fund. It's not like sewer or water in terms of the wet utilities, which are like enterprise funds and you can increase fees.

This was an enterprise fund project. Yeah. It wasn't a storm drain project.

It was an enterprise for storm drains.

It wasn't. It was not. It wasn't a storm drain project. It was replacing a pipe of some kind.

Yeah, there was some other work that was happening. Through wastewater.

Through wastewater. But is it related to... I would have to check on the project.

So to make it more general, let's assume the project is going to happen. Let's assume it gets done before this construction is complete or before it even starts. If the road has been fixed and repaired and cost has gone into doing that and then later construction, private property construction damages that road, what is the remedy for the city?

So if it was a surming improvement, It's only going to replace the width of the trench, which is usually 18 inches, and then another foot outside of that. So it does not resurface the entire street when you do a sewer main replacement. If it was a resurfacing that is being done by the city, and we do have a five-year master plan, if they do cut into brand new pavement within our moratorium period, which is three years, they will have to resurface the street from curb to curb and 10 foot outside of their trenches.

Could I ask a follow-up to that? You said they'd have to resurface. What if the damage they do actually does more than surface damage?

Well, we do have pre-construction videos that we're going to request here. So that's going to take care of all of the damages. But it's likely if it's below surface and it's outside of trucks or there are trenches, Some of the things we could try to do, it's at council's discretion if you want to do this, you would CCTV the lines in the area. But I would advise that it has to be appropriate to their work that they're doing. Like a truck is not going to cause damage to storm drains, for example.

And I think that word is nexus. I learned that a few years ago. There has to be a nexus between what you're asking for and the likely possibility. I'm just concerned about the road. And actually, the next place I was going to go then is on safety, as many, many concerns were raised about trucks going up and down. It's a narrow street and this kind of thing. What is generally, and this is for anyone, staff, whoever, what is generally the approach with traffic maintenance or traffic management in an instance like this. There are going to be certain phases of the construction that require taking out a lot of dirt, unless it's being relocated on the same site. During that time, when all those trucks are coming and going for some weeks or days or weeks, how is the safety of this neighborhood in that vicinity protected by the project?

The applicant will have to submit traffic control plans for engineering's review, and that will be part of their encroachment permit requirements. In addition to that, our inspectors will visit the site, and if there's additional concerns that we're seeing from the truck drivers or from the contractors, we can do some additional visits just to ensure that people are properly using their truck routes that have been approved. We're also welcoming the residents to just let us know they're the ones who are out there, send us videos, photos of anything they're seeing, and we will let the contractors know to make sure and have that corrected. If they don't follow their traffic control plan, we can always put stop work notices on the project just to make sure that they will follow the approved plans.

And then one final question, and I know you're familiar with, Street cleaning schedules and also our recology schedules. It sounds like this particular street sounded like on Thursday morning has a particular challenge because of garbage trucks going in and out. What about the overlay with that happening with construction? Is it timed in such a way that generally recology is done before work is allowed to start?

That can be a condition on the traffic control plan as well, that they're only approved to do deliveries outside a certain time. Typically, the street swings pretty early, but we can condition the traffic control plans and have any adjustments we need on there.

And at what point in time does that traffic control plan get determined with those specific conditions?

That will be at the submit before approving the encroachment permit. So that will be a submittal that's needed in order to get their encroachment permit.

Okay. So I'm asking a ton of questions on April 13th, 2026. And if this doesn't start until August, maybe we'll forget about it. How are you sure that we're going to put these concerns into the traffic control plan?

So typically, well, I'll make sure it happens. For any major projects, they get assigned to specific engineers who work on it from beginning to end. So the engineer who is going to be working on this project has already reviewed all the previous meetings. And then for continuity, that same engineer needs to review the building permit and the encroachment permit when it comes in. Any project that goes through planning entitlements is structured this way for that continuity.

Thank you. Did you want to add anything? I saw you nodding, and I thought Samantha Houser, I wondered if I was touching on something you had been thinking about as well.

You know, I was thinking about Condition 42, which adds the video survey. And just for sheer avoidance of doubt, I almost wonder if we add a sentence that says something like, if the city improves, Bayview Road or Rockaway Beach Avenue at any time. Prior to acceptance of the improvements by the city, the applicant shall redo the video survey and restore those roads to the city-improved condition at the applicant's expense. And then, even though it's a very unlikely circumstance, we've at least documented it.

Right. I love that. Thank you. Yeah, that sounds great. Should we write that down?

I'd be willing to propose that amendment, but we may need your wording again.

I have it written, and we'll work. Thank you.

I'm done. That really responded to that. It did.

Yes. Thank you.

Great. Any other questions now?

I appreciated Council Member Beckmeyer asking, have we missed anything? And I'm curious what other folks think about that. Like, Greg, do you think we have missed anything?

The only question I have is actually a question for Craig. During the course of construction, do you see any problems with any potential fire issues during the course of construction?

Yes, sir, good question. We will likely review the grading permit. It's often sent to us for review, particularly in the summertime, the more concerning months. So, yes, fire will review that for potential ignition sources and comments. fire safety, and also for compliance with Chapter 33. It's a standard comment we make for construction projects that primarily has to do with access. So at no time would we allow any type of project to obstruct our access to structures or otherwise. And that's subject to review. I mean, we have inspectors out and about daily anyway, so that's something we would be made privy to.

Thank you.

You're welcome, sir.

And to answer the council member's question more directly, I've had multiple site visits.

Yeah.

I've had multiple bites at the conditioning apple in order to try to address these things. Everything I have. been able to come up with and think of so far has been included in the conditions.

I appreciate that.

Okay. Yeah, I feel the same way. This has come to us three times. I've looked at it carefully all three times.

And I have to say, I am incredibly impressed with our planning commission and the way they deliberated on this and the conditions that they put on it as well. Because they too, I believe, had the community's interest at heart and took that responsibility very seriously. And I'm appreciative in their debt for what they did for us. Thank you.

Yeah. And to the community's comments about the HAA and the state forcing all this housing on us and cutting our ability to review projects the way we used to, that is what we're coming across now. And every year there are more and more laws that take away our ability to review projects. And this is actually a good lesson to look at even for a small house. We have some much bigger projects also on hillsides coming up before us, even some builder's remedy projects that don't need to meet our zoning the way this one does. And so getting involved at the state level and complaining, all these housing units that the state is forcing us to plan for and build without giving us money for our staff without giving us money for infrastructure improvements. You know, it's a lot.

And those antiquated codes that you referred to, they have stopped us from having the ability to address them.

Well, exactly. And those are things that I know our planning staff is working on and they're on the work plan. And I encourage all of you to come advocate for those things. Like, you know, we can't review things to our... design guidelines because they're not objective. But we're going to be working on our objective design standards. And I've been doing some research. There can even be grading objective design standards, right, that we can think about putting in as well. Because we know our hill sides are really important to Pacifica to protect those and to have development that that follows the grades, you know, when you have to have development instead of, you know, a lot of building with tall retaining walls. I mean, this isn't a project that I like. It's a project I wish I could deny, but I don't feel like I have a legal basis to deny it with how our hands have been tied now. So that's where I am. I don't know if everybody's gone through the resolution and the appeal issues. I think staff did a good job addressing those. I don't know that there's anything else. And then we discussed the key ones like the driveway and setbacks and so forth that were very confusing.

Yeah, I would like to see the driveway to be LISTED ON OUR CODE TO SAY IF IT HAS A SETBACK OR NOT, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT BECAUSE IT'S KIND OF I JUST PUT MYSELF ON THEIR SHOES AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF IT WAS A BIGGER DRIVEWAY, I THINK I'LL BE OKAY WITH THAT. BUT IT'S KIND OF VERY CLOSE TO THAT PROPERTY. AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT CORRECTED ON OUR PACIFICA CODE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE A STANDARD FOR ALL OF THE projects that we get people to submit. So tonight, that's what I would like to see, that we can correct that and put that on the setback for driveways.

We can't do that tonight.

As we work on our zoning update. It's not to be set tonight, but to be put in later. And thus, I have concerned with that. It is important to maybe clean up the code to make it simple and easy for everybody to understand. They don't have to hire a lawyer to read them and figure it out why it's not like the other structure has a setback and that doesn't have it. So it doesn't make sense to me.

And I wish we could require story polls. I know the whole coast side does. I've see some down Highway 1 even on flat lots. So I know the state is trying to make it easier to approve housing and limiting other things we can ask for. But maybe that's something we can look into, especially for these steep lots that are really hard to understand the massing and the impacts on the land.

I have actually one other thing I wanted to bring up. And it specifically relates to the driveway and another public comment from a different commenter. And it really goes to this issue of developing paper lots, paper street, you know, where there's paper streets, where in fact there's no street. And I believe this flag lot is, you know, you have to get to the property somehow, right? So my question is, being there's paper lots all around it, what is the likelihood or is there any way to put constraints around this driveway can't become the street? In other words, oh, well, that probably got developed, and look, there's this nice driveway now, and now I'm adjacent to that. I could develop my property and use that driveway to get to it. And this was the implication of one of the public comments that we got. And I thought, wait a minute. So is there any way to sort of say, okay, the driveway with these conditions and with fire, you know, other means and methods, blah, blah, blah, is for this property. That's it. Not for develop the whole hillside into a neighborhood. Right? Do you see where I'm going? Or maybe that's like, yeah, that's outside our scope. We can't do it.

The location of the property doesn't allow us. Other properties, it's kind of at the top of the whole, the two properties, so I was there. There's paper lots all around it, though, aren't there? Both, but there is not, like, yeah. I was at the site.

Also, you have a huge retaining wall right next to it.

Yeah, no, there's going to be a house.

So the likelihood of it is zero? Yeah. Okay, good.

Yeah, there are homes around. The homes around already. Yeah, but then there is a lot going, and the house is right there.

This is only for this one, not for...

No, they cannot. Some adjacent empty paper. No, they cannot. Yeah, it's not available.

Okay, good.

Thank you.

That's all. I think some of the other public comments were about, you know, if this is being developed, does it make it easier to develop the other homes off Calera Terrace, which is a paper street? And perhaps Director Updegrave can speak to that. But, I mean, Bayview already doesn't meet our standards, right? So any, like, major development... is really going to have a hard time, I think.

Thank you, Mayor Bowles. There's a lot of practical difficulties in developing Calera Street. I know that we have also received public comment and some arguments in the appeal suggesting that this project ought to be using and ought to develop Calera Street. It would be pretty impactful. It's very, very steep. And so that would be, you know, something that future projects would need to deal with.

And it looks to me like that would definitely require some CEQA review if anything was ever proposed there.

Point of personal privilege. Yeah, yeah.

I think we need to take a vote, but a couple of council members need a two-minute break. We need a little break. Because I talked too long. So why don't we take, should we, five minutes, ten minutes break? Five minutes. How about eight minutes? Eight minutes. Nine, ten, we'll come back. Okay, thank you.

Recording stopped.

to condition number 42. Would you like me to read the whole?

Yes, you need to read the whole thing. The whole thing? Okay. Thank you.

Prior to the issuance of any building permits, the applicant shall submit a pre-construction video survey documenting all existing site conditions and all in public improvement limits of Bayview Road and Rockaway Beach Avenue, including but not limited to pavement, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, driveways, drain and structures, utility boxes, adjacent landscaping, and any other visible surface features. The video survey shall be submitted electronically to the city engineer for review and acceptance prior to permit issuance. Any damage to Bayview Road and Rockaway Beach Avenue caused by the project shall be repaired by the applicant at the applicant's expense. If the city improves Bayview Road or Rockaway Beach Avenue at any time prior to acceptance of the improvements by the city, The applicant shall redo the video survey and restore those roads to the city-improved condition at the applicant's expense.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Can I ask one question about that condition? You were talking about the repair of the road at the applicant's expense. Who's actually doing the repair to the road?

Typically it's the applicant.

Pardon?

Typically, it would be the applicant.

And how does that comport with our preferred union people?

We can't control private contracting.

But it's our public street.

It would be subject to public works encouragement permit.

Okay.

Okay, if there are no other questions or deliberations, I'll entertain a motion.

Move as conditioned.

Do you want us to pull the motion? Yeah, maybe if you don't mind bringing it up on the screen, that would be helpful. City Clerk Coffey, that is slide... Number 18.

Move to adopt the resolution ratifying denial of the appeal of the Planning Commission's decision in approving site development permit PSD-838-18 and tree removal permit TP-4-18. subject to conditions for the construction of an approximately 3,180 square foot single-family residence with an approximately 668 square foot attached three-car garage and associated improvements.

Including as staff has amended here tonight?

Including as staff has amended for tonight.

I will second. Okay, please sit.

And with the motion made by Vice Mayor Wright, seconded by Council Member Beckmeyer, the motion passes four to one, with Council Member Espinosa opposed.

I want to say something for that, for the record, that to me, The driveway is a structure and structure means anything constructed or elected to use which require location on the ground or attachment to something having location on the ground is a structure. So I have a problem with the setback and that's what I'm voting no.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you, staff. Thank you, applicant. And thank you to the public. I know this has been really hard. And we've really tried to listen to your concerns and condition the project so that to minimize any impacts. Any construction next to you will have impacts in the trucks and so forth. And really encourage you, knowing what has been approved, if you're looking out, if you're seeing violations, if you're seeing damage, to the streets to your property, please do report it. And appreciate everybody being here tonight.

Okay.

Okay, well that will move on to our last item, item 10. the fiscal year budget planning process timeline and preliminary budget strategies. I'll invite Interim City Manager Carter and Finance and Admin Services Director Marisol Gomez. Hi, Marisol. Join us.

Madam Mayor and City Council, while Marisol is getting situated, I'll just kick this item off. So the item before you tonight is just the first step in the development of the fiscal year 26-27 budget process. So tonight's presentation is intended to outline the process, the timeline, and we will also discuss a few preliminary strategies with you to help guide staff as we develop the budget. And as you may recall, during the March strategic planning session, the city reported that we are projecting to continue facing structural deficit at the current level of services. And at that time, on March 7th, we reported preliminary forecast that was approximately 3.4 million for the upcoming year's budget. And we also discussed that without corrective actions, reserves could fall below recommended levels of the reserves within the next few years. So tonight, we will discuss a few strategies that may help shrink this budget deficit a little bit. And some of them already aligned with the council's strategic goals, and we suggest and carry over some of them in the new year as well. Before we proceed in the presentation, I just want to say that collectively the strategies intend to reduce the deficit, but unfortunately they will not be able to completely eliminate that deficit. So it will just help us to reduce the number to a little bit more manageable level for the base budget, which is the next step in the development process. And I believe Okay, thank you, Marisol. So tonight's agenda, again, we'll talk about timeline, methodology, long-term financial forecast, and strategies, and what's next in the budget development process. Next slide. And next slide. So that's the calendar before you. Again, you can see the check mark. We've talked, the council discussed the strategic plan. held the strategic planning workshop and discussed and affirmed your strategic goals and strategies. Staff is currently working on the work plan for the upcoming year, but again, without knowing specifically how much deficit we will be experiencing, so this work is and we will bring this work plan to you on May 11th, which would make more sense strategically to discuss it at the time when we actually start the discussion on balancing the budget. The mid-year budget review that we held on March 9th is traditionally a kickoff of the budget process because that's where we see where we are in the budget process. in a given year, and again, today's session is just the kickoff of the process for the upcoming year, for 26, 27, and what's upcoming in the future, so the next time we'll talk about the budget will be May 11th, and at that point, we will talk, we will incorporate this budget strategies that we will discuss today, we'll give them your direction, and develop fully develop the base budget of cost of services at the current level budget service level and we will also bring the CIP project to you and build it in with the capital transfers and And the strategic plan priorities and the work plan Then As a requirement we will have to bring a CP plan to a planning commission for conformity with the general plan, so that meeting is scheduled for June 1. Before the budget study session 3, and that's when it's in the June, first June meeting, and that's when the council will actually review the policy options for the balance in the budget. And this process will conclude with the city council's adoption, public hearing and adoption of the of the fiscal year 26-27 budget. And as a reminder, we are using the same methodology this year, so we implemented the modified zero-based methodology a few years ago. So what we plan to carry on, again, zero-based budget methodology is a very common financial management strategy for cost-effective delivery of public services. So practically, the way we do it, we can develop the base budget at the level of services that currently exist. And that exercise helps us evaluate whether we run surplus or deficit. And again, unfortunately, we are looking at deficit for the upcoming year. And once we identify the size of the deficit, and again, as I mentioned, we will try to reduce it to as much as we can through today's discussion and development of the budget process, then we will bring forward packaged budget recommendations to balance the budget, and that meeting is scheduled for the May 11th. And any proposal, very important, so every proposed reductions or enhancement, in some cases we may have to ask for some enhancements of services, together with the reductions. So all of them will be above and beyond the base budget level of services. And that's the decision packets that the council would have to approve. And they will be ranked in the city managers, in the department level priorities, city managers priorities, and of course, brought forward to the council for recommended changes and recommended policy level decisions. And with that, I want to turn it to Marisol to walk us through the long-term financial forecast.

Marisol Reyes- Thank you, Ms. Carter. Evening, counsel and members of the public. I'm going to go over the long-term financial forecast portion of the presentation. As a reminder, the long-term financial forecast is just that, a forecast, a projection, 10 years in the future. We utilize the updated assumptions that we brought forward through the mid-year budget to kick off the updated financial forecast. But also, during the budget updates that we'll bring to you, we will be incorporating those assumptions as well and keep fine-tuning and updating the long-term financial forecast because it is a living document. It's not something that, you know, you just do once or every three years or you want to keep updating it. In this case, this is the last long-term financial forecast presented to you at the strategic planning meeting because there are some feedback we're getting from you today. We want to incorporate that feedback along with the base budget, preliminary base budget review to bring another updated financial forecast throughout the budget development process. So you'll be seeing another updated long-term financial forecast But as you can see, this is the graph on the upper left here that shows expenditures outpacing revenues. The preliminary assumptions that we include are to include the vehicle in lieu, the current year shortfall. So every year we have a vehicle in lieu estimate that we receive through the state. And every year that estimate coincides with a shortfall that the state does not pay and also a backfill that they owe us from the previous two years. So the vehicle in lieu is a complicated formula, but we try to, in the long-term financial forecast attachment, break those portions up so you can see the different segments of the VLF. But in the long-term financial forecast, we do assume that we're receiving the shortfall. We also worked in reductions, as you know, from sales tax and cannabis trends at mid-year. Again, the sales tax of Bradley Burns is trending a little bit lower than our original base budget and the cannabis tax. is still trending downward statewide, not just locally. So the trends assume that continued forecast throughout the remainder of the 10 years, with some increases in the out years. We also have reductions factored in from TOT, STR permits, and business license changes. as we've explained due to the STR ordinance. Those are continued based off the mid-year adjustments and forecasted off of that year going forward. We have increased status quo base costs just for employee benefits, pensions, insurance, and contractual increases. Again, this does not include any enhancements to services or any other revenue generation means. It's just basically our expenditures as of now and our revenues as of now. So we can utilize the long-term financial forecast for scenario building as we move forward in the budget process. But right now, the one presented to you doesn't have any additional revenue measures factored in. And again, it does have the vehicle move shortfall factored in. In the bottom left-hand corner here, you see the projected operating deficit. As Ms. Carter mentioned, in the revenue generation study, we had about a 3.1 deficit. And with this update, it increased to 3.4. Some of that had to do with a variety of the increases with the mid-year review. Again, we haven't pulled out some of those one-time costs or CIP. That's something we do with the base budget building. We go and fine-tune all those line items. But what I did want to also reflect here is the third column, the VLF backfill potential losses. Again, the LTFF does have the shortfall projected in there as being received on the two-year delay. However, as you all know, with the advocacy happening with the BLF at the county level and at the state level, that this is a potential risk to not receive these revenues, and that last column ADDS THAT POTENTIAL LOSS TO OUR OPERATING DEFICIT. THAT'S JUST FOR A VISUAL PRESENTATION OF IT. IT'S NOT INCORPORATED INTO THE LONG-TERM FINANCIAL FORECAST CHART HERE. ALL RIGHT. AND WE'RE GOING TO BE GOING OVER PRELIMINARY BUDGET STRATEGIES NEXT. THESE STRATEGIES COINCIDE WITH THE CITY OF PACIFICA STRATEGIC GOALS AS WE HAD reviewed and adopted them at the strategic planning meeting on March 7th. These are our five goals. One of the things to note is that we are midway through our strategic planning cycle with this next year. And as Yulia mentioned, we're going to be bringing back the work plan and the strategic plan for official adoption on the May 11th, and then we'll go over how that fits into the budget planning process at that time. So for strategy one, what we're recommending is to keep the full allocation of the excess educational revenue augmentation, excess ERAF, for those who stay in the general fund. As you recall, this year in 25-26, we had a policy change to reallocate that funding to the general fund. In the years past, it was allocated, after putting aside $150,000 to the general fund, it was allocated half to the disaster accounting fund and half to the housing action fund because of the deficit. In this year, 25-26, the council saw fit to to reallocate it 100 percent to the general fund. And this is also the recommendation for the 26-27 year because of the projected structural deficit. Right now, in the long-term financial forecast, our estimate for this funding is 3.9 million in fiscal year 26-27. This is not an easy number to estimate, so we have a conservative assumption built in for this one. In working with the county, these numbers are sort of volatile where they can go up a little bit or down a little bit, so we do our best to project this based on the information that we have. Again, the Disaster Accounting Fund, without the allocation in this fiscal year, the projected fund balance is $9.9 million, and the Housing Action Fund, Fund 221, has currently over $2 million fund balance as it stands now. Strategy number two is addressing the financial uncertainties related to the vehicle license fee in lieu backfill payments from the state, so the VLF payments. In fiscal year 26-27, we have a projected backfill of $1.06 million. in the long-term financial forecast. And in 25-26, we did see the state not pay its full obligation. As you all know, we only received two-thirds of that backfill projection from 25-26 year. That was due to us leaving us to pull $771,000 from fund balance that we had put aside to restrict to cover that. So this strategy is a recommendation to, again, do this in 26-27. However, with the note that because core services are already at risk with the projected deficit, this is why we're recommending this strategy again. It is definitely a short-term strategy. If we indeed do lose this revenue source ongoing, we're going to need to find a sustainable ongoing solution. Some of the communication that we provided to the county on this matter really just projected the worst case scenario, right, because we needed to provide that information for the county advocacy and the advocacy with our representatives. But as we track this matter and move forward, we'll work with the council for more long-term a fix for this if we do end up losing the funding. I also wanted to just add that, you know, thank you to Mayor Bowles for working with us in the communication for the advocacy letter that we presented to the county and went with all of the countywide city, all the cities in the county to communicate this As one county, again, this is not something that the city has control over in this funding being at risk, but we are working with the county to communicate that and provide information to the public. This was part of the information provided, and the county has set up a website for those interested in reviewing this matter, and I also wanted to thank staff for participating in the news briefing at THAT WAS HELD LAST WEEK. STRATEGY NUMBER THREE IS CONTINUE ADVANCEMENT OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WORK PLAN AND PRIORITIZE REVENUE GENERATING DEVELOPMENT TO STRENGTHEN THE CITY'S LONG-TERM FINANCIAL BASE. THE STRATEGY NUMBER THREE SUPPORTS STRATEGICALS ONE AND THREE. WITH THE ONGOING STRUCTURAL DEFICIT, IT REQUIRES FOCUSED INVESTMENT IN THE COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT to grow the city's long-term tax base. These strategies to do so are both near-term and long-term strategies. We have new housing development, which can help with property tax, economic activity, and RENA numbers. And then, you know, projected hotel developments can increase TOT and visitor spending. Some of the near-term goals are filling commercial vacancies and support business retention and expansion. There's, you know, because we have long-term and near-term goals on this, you'll get to see some more of how this builds into the budget when we come back with the budget study sessions two and three. But for this overarching strategy, it's just to reiterate that This should definitely be a focus of city and staff and county, sorry, the council also reiterated that with our strategic planning event. Strategy number four is the cost allocation plan. The cost allocation plan supports goal number one. Due to having limited revenues in our ongoing structural deficit, We were able to start work on the cost allocation plan study in order to support a broader effort to improve financial transparency and strengthen our cost recovery practices. This feeds into our long-term fiscal sustainability goals. The cost allocation plan will be developed, will incorporate the development of fully burdened rates that incorporate direct personnel costs and also departmental and central service overhead. This also helps with those grant requests. We'll be able to provide some backup to administrative costs and be able to recuperate and have a report that follows that for personnel and administrative costs. BUT WE WILL INCORPORATE THE EVALUATION OF THESE COSTS AND CITY SERVICE DELIVERIES TO DEVELOP THE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES, USER FEES AND INTERNAL SERVICE CHARGES. THE STUDY HELPS US USE DEFENSIBLE AND TRANSPARENT COST METHODOLOGIES. WE WILL INCORPORATE THESE FINDINGS INTO THE BASE BUDGET THAT WE WILL BE BRINGING BACK FOR BUDGET STUDY SESSION 2 ON MAY 11. And we'll have more details on how the cost allocation plan gets incorporated into the base budget at that time. Strategy number five is part of that study, but development impact fees and the user fee side will be building off of the information that we get from the cost allocation plan. But some of the driving factors for the strategy that supports goals one and three is Most fees have not been comprehensively reviewed in several years. Most since 2013 was some of the latest. There are some fees that have been updated and brought separately throughout the years, but the majority of the fees had last seen a review in 2013. We want to be able to avoid over-reliance on the general fund to subsidize services. When we're talking about user fees and development impact fees, these are specific fees, not general city services that apply to all city residents. It's only those who are using these specific services. And also, development impact fees require updated nexus studies, and most of those development impact fees are going to be due for their nexus study update. INCORPORATING IT AT THIS TIME JUST MADE SENSE IN THE REVIEW. BUT THE STRATEGIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT IMPACT AND USER FEES WILL PROVIDE A FULL COST OF SERVICES AND COST RECOVERY OPTIONS THAT WE'LL BE REVIEWING WITH THE COUNCIL AND WE'LL BE BENCHMARKING AGAINST PEER AGENCIES IN THE STUDY AND PROVIDING SOME OF THAT INFORMATION IN THE REPORT. Because of the timing of the base budget in May and the adoption in June, the development impact fee study or user fee study may or may not be completed. It depends on public outreach and council follow-up questions. But we will be incorporating some conservative fee assumptions into the 26-27 base budget, and we'll provide some more detail on that when we bring the base budget back. And also, just to reiterate, the final fee recommendations will be brought back to Council through a separate public process so you can review those policy decisions on cost recovery for the different departments and the different fees. That does wrap up our strategies, and we'll be moving over to next steps. Ms. Carter will be going over this section.

So, as I mentioned before, even with the preliminary strategies that we just went over, we are likely to continue facing the structural deficit and the imbalance between revenues and expenditures. And to help structure the approach of balancing the budget, the departments will be asked to put all the services provided by each individual department in these three groups that you can see on the slides. So the first group is mandated and public health and safety services. So we are talking about those services that are either mandated by federal, state, or any other legal requirements, or the ones that directly related to protecting live property and public safety. The second category is core or essential services. Again, each department will have to identify what services fall into this category. And these are critical services that are necessary to maintain basic city operations and functioning, but they may not be necessarily legally mandated. And the last category is discretionary services, or we can call them community enhancements. So those services enhance quality of life, community identity, and contribute to long-term vibrancy of our community. And I want to highlight that this exercise is not about suggesting that some services are more important than the others. In fact, all of the services are important. All of them contribute to quality of life in the community, and we want to be very clear about that. it will also help us to set the framework. And at the staff level, we will bring you informed decisions so you can make your decisions based on the information that we are going to provide. And you can see, again, this cute graphic here. So each department will have to essentially analyze the level of services that have been provided currently. So that exercise, we plan to complete it in time before the May 11th study session. And again, the work is underway for that, and we can go to the next slide. And in terms of next steps in the budget development process, again, we are not asking you to take any actions today, but we will take your input on preliminary strategies that we went over earlier. And again, the next conversation about the budget will happen on May 11th. At that point, we will bring the base budget to you for review, as well as position control, so the number of positions. And we will include all the assumptions related to labor agreements and all the new costs associated with that. And at the same time, we'll bring a capital improvement plan for your review as well, because we want to bring it at the base budget, so we have your input on the capital plan, so the finance department has time to build capital transfers between the funds, and that's why it's coming at the next meeting as well. And budget study session number three is the most important and most difficult meeting that we anticipate this year. At that point, the council will be expected to review and provide direction or approval of specific budget strategies that you want to see included in the budget in order to balance the budget. And that process, again, the budget development process will end with the budget hearing and adoption of the adopted budget on June 22, 2026. and we don't need to go over this again, just again, calendar in front of you here. So with that, we're happy to answer any questions.

Any questions before public comment?

I wanted to find out how each department is going to kind of like figure it out.

Recording in progress.

What is needed in You know, like, it's going to evaluate each department. Who's going to do that?

Well, your executive team is going to be working on this. So your department directors are professionals in the field. So they will be reviewing budget recommendations and services with their staff and with the management staff to go through this exercise. So that's something that most cities... typically do in difficult budget times.

So it starts with the department directors, and then as a group, do you work on it?

So the exercise that we are proposing here, and again, we were fortunate. We didn't have to go through this before in the previous years. But what we are proposing here, so each department will be able to identify the services in these three categories, because the worst thing that can happen when finance department will start balancing the budget for the departments, right? So we need this budget development process as the most collaborative process that includes every single department division and all management employees. And working together on this exercise is super critical. because that will help us identify what this budget deficit really means for our community and the services that we provide. And yes, we will start it with the department heads. And department heads will decide how they want to approach this exercise and who they want to involve on the team into this.

Yeah, and just adding on that, The finance department, we definitely work with the departments one-on-one because it's also a learning process for new managers or supervisors, but we really do try to provide the resources to them to help them review everything in this year and also in the prior year so they have some history to be able to help with trend analysis and things of that nature. So it's definitely a very collaborative effort.

And just related to that, so looking at what's essential services and so forth, I mean, the biggest part of our budget is obviously staff expenses. So do these buckets of what is essential and what not get translated into people somehow?

It may. So as part of the strategy, we will be reviewing vacancies, and some of the vacancies will may translate into what service this vacancy provides. And again, depending on where it fits in these three categories. And again, we will go into a little bit more details as we develop these recommendations. But there will be some exceptions, obviously. We are not going to be implementing universal freeze, right, because we still need to, certain positions will still need to be filled, and public safety comes to mind, and maybe some revenue-generating positions, like if there is an employee who is working preliminary on grants and successfully receiving these grants. Again, we will be looking at this kind of on an individual approach or basis, but in general, yes. To answer your question, yes. We are a full-service city, and in some cases, we will have to look at vacancies as well. We'll have to look at what services are provided.

Julia, does that include a review of the contracts?

Absolutely. In terms of consultants and ? Right. So, most of our services or expenses are divided in three categories. salaries and benefits for people doing the work, contractual services, outside consultants, and materials and supply stuff we buy, right, essentially, like all that. And we will be looking at all of that.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Do you want to do public comment? I have some specific questions, but I want... You want to wait until after? Yeah.

Okay, sure. I don't have any cards.

Because I don't want to deliberate.

I don't want to get close to deliberate. Sue, would you like to make a comment? Sure, and you can fill out a card afterwards.

So we've been at this for a long, long time, and I think we all know that revenue is where it's going to end. If you don't have revenue, we're going to just be doing this forever and ever and ever and ever. And so looking at revenue would be very important. And then what the... visitor bureau said they gave a list of how somehow there was some money on that one chart how money went up in some ways so i think that was very fascinating and i think the more they do and get us um all of our assets moving i i just i really have great faith in our ability to have revenue you know from ourselves from our own talents thank you sue

Is there anyone online? We have one raised hand. It is for Kimberly Finale. Okay.

Go ahead, Kimberly. Good evening. Can you hear me? We can.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. Kimberly Finale, Pacifica resident. I'm in District 3. I want to thank you for your continued commitment to the democratic process and acknowledgement of the fact that our democracy is fragile and never to be taken for granted. So I do thank you. As we begin this upcoming series of budget discussions, including these preliminary strategies, I'm wondering if we might consider pushing this initial agenda item back a month until new city manager, Charpentier, is on board so that he can participate in the entire process. Community members may have thoughts, questions, or ideas that city manager, Charpentier, has valuable or previously demonstrated insights on. I'm hopeful that our new city manager has a serious interest in data-supported guidance and recommendations and has an open mind regarding cost-saving measures. Currently, the status quo, new taxes, more housing, wishing and planning to build hotels, i.e., economic development plans, I fear are not enough to make an impact before it's too late, as well as implying resistance to change and progress. We will be having some challenging budgeting conversations in the near future, and we mustn't be afraid to explore and discuss data-backed solutions that have been utilized by other local cities in an effort to cut expenses while increasing government efficiency and productivity. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and make room for the difficult questions that must be addressed if the city is serious about remaining solvent. I look forward to participating in the process and hope that council listens really listens to community input. And finally, be bold. Don't be afraid to ask the hard questions and make the hard decisions that likely must be made in order to avoid a worst case scenario. Please discuss the possibility of holding off on this topic tonight so that we can have a fresh set of eyes by a new city manager on this dreadful financial situation we now find ourselves in. Thank you so much for your time and service.

Thank you, Kimberly.

There are no other raising hands.

Okay, with that, I'll close public comment. You had some questions?

Well, not to respond, but just to point out, on packet page 430 and also in the slideshow that we saw at the beginning. The cycle that we're on is we're having budget study session one tonight, which is going over budget methodology, the calendar, the long-term financial outlook, and preliminary budget strategies, which is the presentation we had tonight. Our next session on this topic will not be until May 11th. And that will involve being presented, if I understand it correctly, with a 26-27 base budget, as well as an updated long-term financial outlook. Will that be incorporating any new knowledge about ERAF or VLF or such?

That's correct, yeah.

And our CIP budget will be presented at that time as well, potential. Yeah. Okay, so in terms of the calendar, our new city manager starts on the 4th. That gives him one whole week to completely get up to speed on all the stuff, and that's kind of unrealistic, but he is pretty amazing, I will say that. So with regard to the issue of flexibility in the schedule, Oh, and I guess on the 11th, we're also going to have the strategic plan and priorities. Is that the work plan coming back from this year's strategic plan discussions? Okay. So it then goes for about three weeks until the planning commission will be reviewing what we've discussed on the 11th. Is that correct?

The planning commission will be only reviewing CIP plan. Okay, for consistency with the general.

Consistency with the general fund. Got it. I mean general plan. Okay. All right. So that means there's almost a month from the budget study session number two until our review of what looks to be the final realistic budget scenario for 26-27, right?

Right. So the council's decisions over Reductions or enhancements of the services will happen in June. In June.

That will not happen until the June 8th meeting. Is that correct? Correct. So in the meantime, will there be any, well, a couple things. It's possible, I think we've done it before, but I can't remember, that we could add a meeting if we need to, if it's just too much to cover.

And then is there any other study session stuff built in? May 25th that could be added, right? If we, that's a normally scheduled meeting. Right. If need be.

So we could put budget items on there if we had to continue the conversation from the 11th or something like that.

But we have to finish everything just to, Continue your conversation. We have to finish everything by July 1st, right, to adopt the budget. So we don't have a lot of fluff time.

You don't unless you choose to adopt continuing resolution, which I certainly wouldn't recommend doing. So you definitely want to adopt the budget in June. The other thing I wanted to mention, the reason why the budget calendar looks this way, we need to account for time. Again, as I mentioned, it's the most collaborative project, right? So every department will be working on it. we need some time for department heads and finance to build the budget, build the recommendation, do the analysis. There is a lot of work goes into this, and I want to shout out to our finance team in the back and department heads. Again, everyone is thinking about the budget development right now. So we carefully selected the states because it allows us to do the work in between. And the main decisions on the budget will be happening on June 8th. Right.

Now, the departmental presentations, will we have on the 11th, will there be, like, each department head will get up and talk about their thing, or will it be all combined into a presentation from the finance department?

Well, we were planning to discuss it with the executive team tomorrow. Okay, right.

So we don't know yet exactly how.

But we will take council's direction on this.

Well, I'm remembering a long time ago day. It wasn't quite as financially disastrous as we're in right now. But I remember part of this process, I'm looking at Mary, involved hearing from department heads. Whether those were separate study sessions, which I kind of think they were, but now I can't remember if it was in the context of, Sarah, you may recall, in the context of regular council meetings, public meetings, or study sessions before regular meetings. I don't remember how it happened. I just remember hearing from department heads specifically.

Briefings now?

About kind of what they foresee, what their budget priorities are in their department, and what the coming year involved.

Do you remember that? Did I make that up? I'm wondering if it was briefings. I do seem to recall that in past years there were built in some study sessions, some extra meeting study sessions that allowed for some discussions by department heads on the budget process.

And so I recognize and I respect that executive staff needs to work out a process amongst department heads and the e-team and all of that and you need time to do that and then having accomplished it you need time to share it with the city manager upon his arrival not as a feta complete but uh here's how far we've gotten in where we where it's looking right i mean there in other words there will be opportunity for our city manager to give input ask questions give guidance and participate in this process prior to our approval of the budget on June 8th.

Absolutely. And that's how we've done it in the past as well. So again, the process includes each department identifying the service level needs, whether it's reduction or increase in services, depending on what we're asking them to do. And they are submitted to the city manager to for city managers review and prioritization citywide. And that's exactly the process we are planning to follow. And that step will not happen until June. So the city managers recommended budget will come back to you for the June 8th meeting.

I also wanted to add that we did send out the invitation for briefings with the council and we expect that the city manager, the incoming city manager would attend those as well.

Right. Okay. Thank you. Great. So that was one thing I wanted to say, and then I had one other thing. But if you want to do the other thing, I will, or I'll wait and give the floor to somebody else.

Go ahead.

I have a question for the director of Parks, Speeches, and Recreation. Hi, Scott. Scott loves it when I do this. Why did you not call me? I just want, in light of the presentation, the early part of the presentation tonight, with the very unacceptable impact of vehicle license fee funds being withheld from the county of San Mateo, county of Mono, and one other county, I forgot which one.

Alpine.

Alpine. What, if any, impact to our Human services, do you anticipate, and the ones I'm thinking about keenly are, for example, Meals on Wheels. I will share and remind everybody and the public that, and it's a super pride point of mine, that we are one of few scratch cook created food programs. And our Meals on Wheels is supported by volunteers already. But I am looking at this VLF shortfall and I'm fearful that something like that very exemplary program that we have could be threatened. And I want to understand if that's a reasonable fear or I need to just chill out on that and think about other fears.

Madam Mayor, City Council, Scott Leslie, Director of Park, Beach, and Recreation. It's a good question. So if the question is what other funding sources, say the county, the federal government, and the state, that is always a little in flux. We are currently in the process of going through an RFP with the county for senior services. We are asking for more money for more services with the idea that maybe we could get some that could support the program in general. From the childcare point of view, everything seems currently as steady as we can expect.

As you can after losing all your four-year-olds to public school, you mean? Right.

But in terms of PB&R's funding and in terms of social services, a lot of our outside funding, there doesn't seem to be the same level of concern that we had last year. Last year was very chaotic. Right now, it seems like it's stabilized, but that being said, there are a lot of factors out there that I can't speak to. In terms of, you mentioned Meals on Wheels or a lot of our programs, they are supported via funding from the county or from the state, but there is general fund in those programs and there is participant fees too. So it's a mixture of everything. So it's a matter of where it's gonna fall on our scale of the three buckets. We'll go through all our programs and try our best to articulate how much say city general fund dollars are going towards it, how much participant fees and how much grant funding as part of our discussion.

Thank you so much, Director Leslie. Thank you. This is exactly the example how we will be looking at service level. I will be looking at outside funding, what is the recovery, of course recovery from outside funding, and what general fund level of support this or that service need. And all of this analysis will be coming back to you, essentially.

Thank you. And we know, just related, we know we just recently lost $100,000 in federal funding for our senior programs. Do we, is there more at risk now that, beyond that?

So there is an RFP process, so I should be careful what I say, but we did have our contracts reduced by $100,000 over several areas, but ultimately $100,000 towards seniors. It essentially began as federal dollars and moved to the state and went through the county. We don't know what that's going to mean. We are going through a process of asking for funding, and we're literally putting those applications together now. But our hope is to at least maintain our current levels. We're hoping to get more, but at this point, RFP processes, you don't really know until the funds are awarded. So our hope is it will at least be the same as it is now, and We're hopeful. We're trying to put good strategies together to ask for additional dollars. But until we receive them, we don't really know.

And I think it would be good, you know, besides the federal understanding the VLF implications to the county because they also provide programs right beyond what we're losing in VLF.

Right. We did speak a little bit to the compounding impact for the county losing their funding because it supports a lot of our community funding. as well that Pacificans take advantage of. So, yeah, that's definitely something to take into account.

That would be very helpful. And if I may, and I wasn't there, so you should speak to it, you and Greg and Mary, about the action last week when I was out of town. But what I want to highlight is what Marisol was saying And can you bring that chart up again that shows the one million this year, the two point something next year? And if I could, Marisol, I think I heard you say that on any given year, as we look at that reduction column, that's really representing dollars that should have come to us two years ago. Because of this deal from years back, part of the deal was we're going to withhold your money and then we're going to give it to you later. And so we're constantly getting it in arrears, right? So while we may be paying more for things, the money we're getting is based on two years ago when we weren't paying quite as much, perhaps. So it's kind of a little bit of a lag, if that's a good way to put it. But on this chart, everything in the third column, VLF backfill potential loss, is the losses to the city of Pacifica because the state is withholding the county's money. Is that a fair way to put it? That's correct. And that is our share. That is our hit. Every city's number is going to be different in that column. But that's it for Pacifica.

It's our money. It's not the county's money. It's our money. Because our people paid the fees.

Our allocation of...

It is, okay, so I'm not going to talk about the specifics of that action and that discussion because you guys were there, and I'm sure you have a lot to add on that point, but it's, you know, just reiterating that there is this county-wide effort on the part of elected officials, the supervisors, staff, the finance directors, and everyone collectively to, including a lawsuit against the state, to get

funds given back to us and the one thing we are the one thing I learned at this event which was really well attended and important to show our solidarity around these issues part of the difficulty is that I mean as councilmember Beckmeyer just mentioned it's just three counties in the state right everyone else is getting paid their fair share in other ways and they somehow think that it's easy to shift us and not give us what we're due because somehow we're the wealthiest county in the state. But we give money back to the state more than what we earn in taxes, right, by a huge amount. And this is money that's earned to us. So to date, up until that meeting, the state hadn't even wanted to talk to legislators or people at the county at all And just before that meeting, Noelia Corso mentioned that the state finance team finally did meet with county representatives, so conversations are happening. She was pressed to give more information to see if there was potential movement, but they're under a confidentiality agreement right now as negotiations are in process. Yes, everyone's following this very closely, and hopefully we will get this money back. But we still have a $3.4 million deficit from this year. That isn't even because of BLF.

That's just a whole lack of funds relative to expenses thing.

Just one more thing about that. They're looking for a permanent solution. Exactly. So it's not this backfill all the time.

Don't move me forward. Please, can we have it? Last year we got two-thirds of the amount. We never even got all of it from two years ago. We got two-thirds of what we were two years ago money.

And I'd actually like to kind of see that extra third added into what they owe us, right, so that we're keeping track of that on here too so we can hopefully get that back.

But you are right. there is another deficit.

There's even more than just another deficit.

I know. I know your calculations, Greg. And I also want to remind people that this didn't just happen, right? And so we've been hearing about deficit for a while, and I think Pacifica's always dealt with this in one way or another because we're Pacifica, and You know, our tax base is what it is. I mean, there's a lot of reasons. But it's scary. And I think we really need to put our heads together to see what we can do.

Yeah. And to the caller's point, right, on that very point, I just want to say one other thing on that, that it doesn't make it okay, but it does make it a decades-long challenge. When this city... when the vote happened and there are people in the audience out there and in our city, in our historical society and others who were part of it, or maybe were kids when their parents were part of it, but when our city did a vote to incorporate in 1957, a big issue on the pro-con was could we afford to run a city? Could we afford to maintain our own public safety? Could we afford to do all the things that a city provides? And I didn't know that until fairly recently, that that was kind of like, there's always going to be, because the vote was like 51 to 49. It wasn't a landslide vote. It was contentious, and there was a lot of debate in town, and that was the crux of the issue, was money. And the forecast and what they foresaw coming down the road, could we, could we not? And it kind of doesn't make, it's not comforting. It's just consistent to your point. This isn't new.

On the pension obligations, right, which we've been hearing about this entire time as well, and then the skyrocketing benefits. I mean, I see it in my job, right? They went up like 35% in one year. Like, it's crazy how much benefits are costing. So there's so much involved.

Just one other question. So we know the community was polled about potential revenue generation measures, and I appreciate you sharing that information and the results of that on the website. Maybe you can highlight where the website is for the people who are listening tonight. But at what point in this process do we have that discussion and maybe a presentation and allowing the community to comment too?

So last time when we had this discussion with the council, the direction of the council was to explore options for parcel tax, which we did, and the results of the survey that we shared, it's not feasible at this moment, so we didn't include it in this budget presentation analysis right now, but the council may schedule a separate meeting to discuss it closer to I would say June, July time frame to discuss it.

I think that's really important.

So maybe can I make a formal request to our mayor and mayor pro tem in terms of agenda planning that that is on your hot list. I'm sure it already is, but I'm just going to ask for it.

Can I ask a few hundred questions?

I'll shut up.

Retention is somewhat of a problem. You're talking about not replacing people. Do we do any tracking of how much it costs us when we have that constant turnover?

Well, we do track vacancies and we do track retention rate, like how often we do recruitments on specific positions and replace people. The cost is A lot of this, to your point, Vice Mayor, is a hidden cost. Cost to recruit, cost to engage, cost to do the onboarding and the check, the background check, and the cost of training. And the redistribution of other work to other employees. Exactly, while you're doing all of this. And again, remember we are lean, leanly staffed city. So we're still about 21, I think, percent below peer average. And if you remember when we did analysis, we selected some of the sample cities, but we did comparison to our neighbors in San Mateo County. So that number is even greater. I think it was more of a 40% threshold. So yes, there is a cost here. There is a human cost to run lean stuff.

And just so I can quit having to ask this question all the time, why is it when we talk about budget shortfall, do we not talk about what our budget should be compared to, I mean, if we fired everybody, we could say we have a budget surplus, but that's not realistic, right? And if we're already substantially short like double-digit short on employees, how can we say that it's only 3.4?

It just doesn't... Well, because we are looking at the current level of services, and we always compare it to the specific point that we have in time. Is it an ideal point? It's not.

What message does that send?

Well, we're understaffed, underfunded organization, and I think we've been communicating it throughout our strategic discussions. But at the same time, each city has a wish list, right? So even a well-funded city probably has a list of CIPs that they cannot cover.

I'm just suggesting that if we frame the conversation in a more realistic way, that maybe our community would better understand the challenges that we're facing.

And we did that during revenue generation study. Yeah, we had those buckets, right? So what it would take to add additional 46 employees, what would it take to fund the CIPs, and we can definitely explore the ways how we can educate community and provide this information during the budget development process, maybe in some narrative discussion.

I mean, how many people in Pacifica do you think know that we're like 12 police officers?

And how many people watch the revenue generation study? Nobody. We did. I mean, I'm sure some folks did, but not a lot.

And basically we've been balancing our budget on the backs of our employees. We're overworking them and underpaying them. And I get it that we have a challenge, and it's an easy thing to do, but that affects our retention. That affects our training costs. But I'll quit beating that dead horse. What do we do in terms of analysis to understand when we hire contractors and when we hire employees in order to maximize the most efficient use of funds?

Well, I would say the time would be now. As we go through the services, we will be looking at how the service is currently being provided. Are they provided by the consultant? Are they supported by city staff? And again, is the service essential, core service or enhancement? So all of this will be part of the analysis. But if we, over the last few years, if the question is how we did this analysis, every time we provide recommendation to the council, we include some of this analysis, whether it's a recommendation to increase the staffing or recommendation to fund contract for a specific project or task. So we tend to do the same approach. So each recommendation will have its own mini staff report and form of budget form where you will see what is being requested, what the impact of this request is going to be, and what alternatives you can have to consider it so that we intend to continue with the same methodology.

Well, I was also wondering in terms of you have a number of different strategies here in terms of directions to head to try to save money. Can you put any rough numbers on what the potential is for each of those different strategies?

Well, we put on strategy one and two, we put the number on the slides. So I think Ms. Gomez mentioned that the ERAF for the current year is about 3.9 million. So that's the money if you're going to keep in general fund. The VLF backfill for next year, it's a known number. It's all slightly over a million dollars. The other strategies for... It's a little bit hard to put a number on it right now without additional analysis and looking into the base budget. But again, as Marisol mentioned, the user fee, for example, like user fee study, we would probably include some conservative analysis once we get information from the consultants. So what is going to happen on that one, we will get information from Vilden, the consulting team that is doing the study, what the full recovery will look like and what kind of money we are talking about at 100% recovery. We know it's not going to happen because some of the services and some of the services private benefit or the public benefit, right? And it's a policy decision what kind of recovery you will be discussing, but we will conservatively assume something to include in the budget, because we know that once you adopt the user fees schedule, it will generate some additional revenues throughout the year.

Just to expand on that a little bit, as Ms. Carter mentioned, we work with the departments to fill out their budget forms. And normally they'll have budget forms for service enhancements this year. We might be having those budget forms for reductions. And so we'll put a number to those specific by department service reductions that they'll be presenting and provide that to you in budget study session three. So you do have a little bit more information there for your decision making.

And then In general, from a policy perspective, has there been any analysis done on whether it's better to pay people the right amount of money and have less of them and have them horribly overworked, or is it better to have more of them and pay them like crap?

Well, there is no simple answer to this question. It all depends on the specific service, specific function, and specific need of the department. And yes, to your point, it's much easier, like as an HR professional myself, I say it's much easier when you're competitive. You definitely can attract the talent in any area that you're recruiting for. If you're not competitive, it's becoming a little bit more challenging. And we've been talking about this with the council. We've invested a lot of time in culture building in this organization. bringing what money cannot buy, but there is a limit to this. So there is no simple question to this.

Do we do any output tracking? So in other words, do our employee groups that get paid closer to the average actually produce more? Do we have any metric to measure any of that by?

And not at this time, but we can explore trying to maybe visualize some of that in our presentations, maybe as we go through the vacancy exercise with the department heads and see if we can tie things. Normally, as Ms. Carter mentioned, because of the way we do our budget, we want to always tie something back to the strategic goals or service level review. So we'll try our best to try to visualize that in a different way.

Just as an example that our mayor will understand, I know a really good set of plans actually saves you money, whereas a not-so-good set of plans ends up costing you more money. And that's what I'm trying to figure out, is how can I make the best decisions to best support you guys in pulling rabbits out of a hat? I guess I will.

Well, as part of service analysis, we will be looking at efficiencies as well. I mean, it's in the best interest of each individual department to identify those areas of efficiencies. And maybe some of them may cost some money, right? So we may be asking for some additional allocation in order to achieve better efficiency or return on investment or whatever it is. And that's part of the analysis that we are describing. Yeah.

And we've been doing some of that work, like looking at updating finance software and planning software, right? Permitting and licensing.

Rose AI.

And other AI to help write staff reports or whatever, right? To take some of the time and burden away from staff.

And we should consider AI like for repetitive tasks. A lot of people are using it.

We are using it. We are actually doing and rolling out the workflows. And kudos to our Parks and Recreation Department. So they're actually championing some of the workflows that are already in place for the registration. Licensing. Yeah. All of that. We're definitely looking into this.

And believe me, they're never tired. They're always asking you, do you need anything? AIS? Yes. A robot? After you asked them 100 questions, they were like, do you need anything? I was like, OK. That's what we need here.

And then one last simple, easy question. To the nearest hundred million, how deep is our capital improvement hole?

350. Well, I believe we reported 371 million at the revenue generation study session. Okay.

So we have multiple problems on multiple fronts.

We have multiple problems at multiple levels, and we will do our best to... balance the budget.

Well, thank you. I know this is not easy for you. And I know it's not easy for you, Maricel. And I really appreciate your diligence.

And then there were other things that I think during our goal setting, you know, we talked about like looking carefully at our PG&E bills and what we could reduce and like community finance districts, you know, as staff gets time that are other things that we can build on to save money over time that we'd really like to look at.

I think we only paid PG&E $16,000 this cycle. I was thrilled.

Yeah, I don't even know what our yearly bill is for everything. It would be good to know. Okay. It sounds like we're wrapping up. And there's nothing you need from us now. Do you have any other questions or questions?

No, I just want to clarify that the council is generally supportive of including the five strategies into the base budget. And as we do that, that will reduce this deficit to some level before we start doing this analysis and analyze what this deficit translates into for each department. Sounds good.

Poor Peter, poor Paul.

Okay. Well, that closes that item. And, yeah, we're going to finish by 11. It's time for council communications. Does anyone have anything? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you both. Really appreciate it. And all the finance staff in the back, appreciate you all.

I did want to give a quick update from the Peninsula Division meeting today. And I'm grabbing my notebook, sorry. With regard to the BLF and echoing some of what you just said, oh, there it is, about Noelia, Supervisor Corza, President, whatever, hearing from the Department of Finance, the county's lobbyist on this issue is going to be making a presentation or have a meeting in Sacramento as part of the City Leaders Summit. A lot of people are going there anyway. And so there's a meeting on Tuesday in the afternoon. It's in Sacramento. No, next week. And no, yeah, next week. So I'm going there anyway on Tuesday. And we were invited to attend that meeting if we want to hear The issues are here, whatever. So I'll get the specifics on the date and time. 1 or 2 p.m. on Tuesday is what I have written down. But location, I don't know. There's also a bunch of appointments that are being made. I'm going to City Leaders Summit. Greg is going. I know we're meeting with Papen and Becker, but I don't know who else yet, as part of the group meetings that go to their various offices. So more to come on that when I get back.

When is City Leaders Summit?

Next week, the 22nd, 3rd, 4th. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that is all I have on that.

I'll go. I hope you all received the email from Supervisor Corso about the mayor's mental health initiatives program. mental health training for electeds. It's going to be on May 4th, Saturday morning. We don't have a location yet. Ninth. I think it's ninth.

Oh, ninth.

I knew that. It's going to be Saturday, May 9th from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. We're looking at County Center. So we're waiting to hear back from Noelia's staff about which room we're going to be able to have. But I'm just really proud of it. And, you know, we've been working since I was the mayor. on different strategies for mental health across the county and in our cities and so this one is just super personal and I think it's going to be really important and it doesn't that doesn't break the Brown Act so we all can attend if you choose to do that that would be great and please make sure if if you know some electives that you know maybe they don't know about it we sent it out to everyone including all the school electives across the county And so we're hoping to get a good turnout, but it's just really important for us to take care of ourselves and each other and our communities. If we can't take care of our communities, we're not taking care of ourselves. So I'm really happy that it's actually happening as an accumulation of a whole lot of love and work. And so I'm really excited about it. Yay for that. And then we're having a youth summit on April 25th at JUHSD district office. The information is going to be going out with Connect Pacifica. I'll resend the invitation to all of you. If you want to attend, that would be great. We're looking forward to... doing that. It's a bunch of younger students this year, so it's a different vibe, and I had to let go of my expectations around that, but anyway. It's okay. Yeah, that's it for me right now.

Just really briefly, I just want to mention how... I feel like we've been doing a better and better job working together lately and how much I appreciate that. It makes me feel more productive in all the meetings that I go to. And I just want to thank you guys. You guys are the guys that know the job and people that had the job before us sitting out in the audience know the job. And I couldn't do it without you. I so appreciate each and every one of you.

Aw, Greg, you're nice. Thank you. Same, and you are everywhere, and you're getting to know people, like, all over, too, and being a voice for Pacifica, and thank you. It takes a lot of time and effort to build those relationships, and we know, and we see.

And with that, I wanted to say that I want you to collaborate with me to bring more nightlife to Pacifica. And make some money, please.

I love it. I'll just add a couple things. Actually, Greg and I both went to the Sustainable San Mateo County Awards night, and it was lovely to see some students from Oceana High School presenting their trash capture devices there, along with other youth. And then this was the first year that they awarded a city, a sustainable cities award, which went to Menlo Park.

I was about to guess. Menlo Park. Menlo Park. Menlo Spark.

Who were just like on top of everything and, you know, ahead of the game for reach codes and leading the way and giving us examples to follow. Yeah. My good friend Betsy Nash is their mayor and she got this beautiful green cape and I am green with envy. Hopefully Pacifica will be in the running one of these years with all of our good goals. And then just wanted to remind everyone that Eco Fest is on Saturday, so the Pacific Beach Coalition organizing cleanups at all the beaches from 9 to 11. And then from 10.30 to 1.30 is the festival with all kinds of booths, learn about environmental things. And then there'll be a special tour of the creek and the work that's happening at the creek, given the theme of clean it out for the steelhead trout. And the work's going on there.

I'm sorry to miss that.

It's the same weekend as progress.

Can you tell me more about the tour?

Yeah, so if you want to go, there's just a walking tour this year. It's not going to be... Oh, great. And it starts at 9, so just show up at the beach. Okay, perfect. Yeah, I want to go. And then... Council had asked some time ago about trying to get a coordinated calendar so we know all the different activities and who's going. And I'm setting up a meeting with IT. Jenny and Sarah had set some preliminary things up. And so hopefully we can coordinate and make sure all these different things are covered in our community and outside. Okay. And staff communications? Do you have anything to share? I don't have anything to share today. Okay. Okay. Well, with that, I will adjourn our meeting at 10.40 p.m. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, everyone. Let's stay longer. Come on, Myra. We've got 20 minutes.