City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, I'm gonna go ahead and call this meeting to order. And can I have a roll call, please?

Council Member Little?

Here.

Council Member Sander is joining us momentarily. Council Member Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge? Here. And Mayor Gatewood?

Here. Stacey, can you go ahead and announce the meeting and playback schedule?

Yes. The meeting of the Rancho Cordova City Council is recorded with closed captioning. The recording will be cablecast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and direct TVU-verse cable systems. The recording will also be video streamed at metro14live.saccounty.gov. Today's meeting will replay on Thursday, July 9th at 9 a.m. and Friday, July 10th at 6 p.m. on Metro Cable Channel 14. Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at youtube.com forward slash Metro Cable 14 or on the city's website at www.cityofranchocordova.org.

All right, can I go ahead and have Darcy come up for the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

I'm sorry, Stacy.

Stacy. I almost had it. There she is.

I'm sorry, Stacy.

I was looking around, too.

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, can you please stand seated as Dan Deshawn from University of Christian gives our invocation. Pastor.

Please bow your heads and pray with me, please. Dear Lord, we ask today that we would be worthy of the calling you've placed on us and particularly this exceptional body of servant leaders. Our celebration of the 4th of July of our great nation is over, and now we ask that you empower us to get back to work, to live with kingdom principles, to live with Christ-like strength, and not to waste our freedom that we've been given. Our freedom was fought for and forged in the fires of difficulty. Brave men and women laid down their lives, their comfort, their convenience, so we could enjoy this freedom today. We ask that you inspire us to be more disciplined than ever, to show up when it's hard to be grounded, when everything around us is shaking, and step up for our family, our faith, and our community. I pray for the leadership of this body, the city council, their staff, that they would continue to exemplify truth, sacrifice, grace, and justice. We ask for strong faith in your godly leadership you've given us, Lord, and boldness in your mission for us. If we want to be a better nation, a better community, it starts with each one of us to being a better parent, a better spouse, a better friend, and a better citizen. We need to live justly while humbly and love sacrificially. We ask that you empower us to not only celebrate freedom, but to steward it. Thank you, Lord, for our real freedom isn't the absence of struggle. It's the presence of purpose. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

All right, we're gonna move on to presentations, and I'm gonna call up my amazing Leisha Green, Director of Development, and Rhonda for the Executive Director of CCHAT.

I'm gonna do my proclamation thing. Mic me.

Boom.

All right, guys.

Listen, you're on TV, smile. There we go. This proclamation is given in recognition of C-Chat, the most amazing thing we have in our city. For three decades, C-Chat, children's choice for hearing and talking, has transformed lives of hundreds of children who are deaf, who have hard of hearing, and by empowering them, an exceptional listen and spoken education and support. If you didn't know, the C-Chat does cochlear implants, and I think it's the only place I can think of in Northern California, and they happen to call us home. C-CHAT has continuously recognized by healthcare partners, early innovation programs, school districts, integrated education, audiology, early intervention services made possible by decades of professionals whose leadership expertise and passion create life changing opportunities for family and children. Over the past three years, CCHAT's educators have earned specialized teaching credentials, strengthened the organization's ability to deliver high quality educational services, and CCHAT's director has earned and certified funding raising executive credentials, internationally recognized certifications reflecting the highest standard of ethics, professional, and non-profit organization. And to my own heart, I will say that CCHAT has a bright star in this city and i cannot believe you've been here this long it seems like only yesterday we were eating winter schnitzel by your office thank you so much for what you do for my city thank you oh guys come on here go take a picture oh i'm coming

Mayor Gatewood, we also have a member of the public who's interested in speaking to this topic.

Really?

All right.

Bring it.

Eric Mott, if you'd like to come forward.

Hey, Eric.

Good evening. My name is Eric Mott. I'm from the Vineyards neighborhood. And I just want to take a moment to say thank you for recognizing CHAT. I think they're a fantastic organization and school. While high tech companies bring a lot of financial benefits and kind of put us on the map, so to speak. Organizations like CHAT are really the heart and soul of our community. And I think that it's great that the city has recognized them. I think that we should also do as much as we can to help promote these type of organizations that help bring us On the map, they brought really this type of a, how do I want to put this, specialty is really kind of world-renowned. here in Rancho. They have people come from all over the country. I think if you look, they used to have a map on their wall. It's still there. It shows where their students come from. And they're from all around the world, actually. And so it's really the heart and soul here, I think, of organizations like that. And I think that our city would benefit in supporting them as much as we can financially and any other way to help ease the burdens for them to stay in business and to grow themselves. Myself and my family, we love CHAT. We're grateful for all that they've done. We've had a child that's gone there. So it's very personal for me. And thank you.

We now move to public comment. Members public wishing to address the council for members not on the agenda item today may do so at this time. For items that are on the agenda, speakers will be called at the time the item is heard. This public comment period is limited to matters that have fallen within council authority, known as council subject matter jurisdiction. Comments outside the council's jurisdiction may be ruled out of order. Under the state of city council may not discuss or take immediate action on items on the agenda or agenda unless item is determined to be of an emergency nature or the need to take action rose agenda after the agenda posting. Speakers must keep their moments three minutes or less or be asked at the beginning by stating their name for the record. All right. PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR SPEAKER CARDS TO THE CITY COUNCIL. RAISE YOUR HAND BY ZOOM BY USING THE RAISE HAND FEATURE. PRESS STAR 9 IF PARTICIPATING BY TELEPHONE AND WAIT TO BE CALLED UPON BY THE CLERK. WE WILL FIRST CALL ON MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATING IN PERSON FOLLOWED BY THOSE THAT ARE DOING REMOTELY. So that was our first time reading that new one. As you can tell, I fumbled and mumbled that thing all the mess. Okay, Stacy, do we have any public comment?

We do. So first we'll take speakers who are in the council chambers and we'll start with Jeremy Hensley. Following Jeremy will be Davey Rodriguez. And then I will move to emails and Zoom if anyone is joining us remotely. So Jeremy, if you'd like to come forward, you'll have up to three minutes.

How you guys doing today?

Good.

I was wondering about the death of Courtney Scott.

Say that again?

I'm from Rancho Cordova, California. I want to know about Courtney Scott. You guys don't know about Courtney Scott? Are you guys not from Rancho Cordova? Who is that? You don't know who that is? It's a little girl that got raped and killed. And I came across some evidence that doesn't make sense. And Gerald Ferguson is my, well, Courtney Scott is my cousin. Gerald Ferguson is my uncle. And I feel like they're covered up deaths. And I was wondering why nobody has looked into this.

So we understand your question, and I will tell you that our police chief is in the back of the room, and it seems like this would be a logical thing for you to discuss with him.

No, I'm just asking about Rancho Cordova, because they're from Rancho Cordova, California.

No, he's our Rancho Cordova police chief.

I get it. I'm over here talking to you guys, though. I'll talk to him later, but I'm asking, why are they not investigated right? And they're from Rancho Cordova, California. And there's a lot of more deaths that are connected to my family. Like Jordan McKay is a black and white little kid. He's my cousin. And I don't understand why they never caught the killer.

We understand your issue, and I think I speak for the three of us, and in general, the five of us, that we'd be happy to learn more if you would talk to the police chief so that they have an opportunity to work on your issues.

Yeah, but I'm just asking about the council, since you guys are in the community, right? Oh. You guys don't know about Courtney's Council? You guys ain't from Rancho Cordova, California? Hmm. Chief.

All right, next.

The next speaker will be Davey Rodriguez. Davey, you'll have up to three minutes.

Yeah, I'll be quick. Several months ago I came before this board and pointed out that they had entered into illegal contracts with contractors who were not licensed in this state and I pointed out the various crimes that were being broken in the process of entering in those contracts and asked this body to put another item on the next meeting to cancel said illegal contracts because they're not allowed to go through. And since that time, I have seen no movement in that regard. THIS PERSON WHO IS FORWARDING THESE CONTRACTS TO YOU FOR APPROVAL HAS BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD BEYOND THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO AND THE COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO AND EACH TIME THE STATE CONTRACTS BOARD HAS INFORMED HER THAT WHAT SHE IS DOING IS NOT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE LAW. I will admit that it's only a misdemeanor when a contractor enters into an illegal contract like that. But when several public officials gather together to break the law like that, they call that conspiracy. And conspiracy is a felony. And felonies get public officials banned from public office. It is also a crime to aid and abet a crime. So you can ignore this at your peril. I am a squeaky wheel and I'm going to push forward. I did the same thing with the city. They have changed their ways. I've did the same thing with the county. They finally agreed to it. So please heed this warning one more time. Cancel those contracts before they go any farther. I also would point out that felonies get attorneys disbarred as well. So Like I said, ignore this at your peril. I will push forward. Thank you.

All right, next.

I have no more speakers in person. We did receive a emailed public comment from Autumn Grishap, and that was distributed to the council, placed on the city's website. and has been placed in a binder in the back of the council chambers for the public. I am looking at Zoom, and I do not see any hands raised for public comment. That's all the public comment that we have. Mayor Gatewood.

Excellent. We will move on to... I have one. So go in the back. Go ahead, fill that thing out, and then come on forward.

Yeah, could you give me one? I'm disabled.

Of course. We got you covered. Go ahead.

My name is Kerry Rogers. I'm a homeowner on Vinny Way, Rancho Cordova 95670. Been there over a decade. We have been called on by our neighbors who are retired city official workers. And each time we have been called on by your entities, they have came out. and left with nothing but I say a big H called harassment. We have done nothing but build our property up to amazing standings according to your bylaws. I just listened to that gentleman who started my little engine right now. I wasn't going to speak today. But I have spoken to a couple of people, this lady right here, in regards to a complaint that I filed on June the 10th regarding my neighbor doing illegal work in front of his house. That got addressed on the 11th. On the 11th, a gentleman named William, what is his name? Howard Williams. Matter of fact, Howard used to be a coworker with my brother for the city of Sacramento County. My complaint is the mistreatment and the biased reactions that we get, my wife and I, in regards to when we call officials on them. And we get the same nonchalant attitudes like this council member right here that I just had on film, just frowning and smiling and laughing at this lady because he was just speaking his opinion. And I thought that was very disrespectful of having on video. It just happened right in front of my face. And that's the same type of treatment we get from your officials when they come out to our house. I am more than a squeaky wheel. So I would ask that you please investigate 2640 Benny Way into the square footage of that home, including all permits that are not in conflict that I have evidence of. Is that good enough? And how do I speak to somebody behind closed doors? Because I have very much a lot of evidence and video evidence. I'm not just speaking out the side of my neck.

So we'll start with city manager, and is that your wife right there? That is her. What's your wife's name?

Celeste.

Celeste, we'll start with you and your husband talking with the city manager, and then- Is that David Kwong? No, that would be Michael Runner.

Okay, I spoke to David Kwong twice, sir.

Yeah, so let's put it up a little bit. We'll talk to the city manager, and then if we don't get it resolved, then you can come talk with the mayor.

Okay, so my question was is, if there's some funny stuff going on between the guys that come out on a call and go to a particular home and they get treated differently, is there a law against that? I mean, I think it's fraud. I think it's... I think it's complete fraud. You can go over there and say, hey, don't worry about it. Say, for instance, just a little example. I know I'm still in the middle of your time, but you had nobody else to speak. So I guess I'll take theirs right quick. They called the police department on me. I'm in my driveway. I'm screaming at them, telling them, you better go get a permit. Now, this is for your guys' wealth. And we're getting treated the opposite because, like I say, I'm a squeaky wheel, and I'm more than a squeaky wheel. I get loud. I get excited. And so my opinion about how they came out was very aggressive. And I asked them, what do you want? And they said, we got a nuisance call, loud noise. I said, well, you don't hear nothing but saws and torches right across the street and me screaming at them about a permit. And they go, oh, that's it? I said, yeah, that's it. And I said, hey, take a peek over there. There's a car right there parked the opposite way, one of their contractors. I said, what are you going to do about that? He goes, we're not here for that.

Can you please wrap up your comments?

He goes, we're not here for that. And I said, okay, you're not here for that? I said, but so if somebody commits a murder across the street, you're not going to address that? There was illegal stuff going on. These are the people that called on us. These are the people who feel that they're entitled because they've been in the city for so many years. And I just want to know.

Kenny, Kenny, can we?

Kerry, I wish I was Kenny.

I'm sorry, I thought you said Kenny. So, Terry, can we?

Kerry.

Kerry, so can you, would you clarify, please, 2640 Benny is your address or is the address you want?

I'm 45, I'm right across the street to Pretty House.

Okay, so you want to report 2640.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, I'm happy to meet with. So let's meet with Kenny and let's get Micah runner Micah Robert Micah runner runner.

Yep How long you been doing this a minute?

Okay, so happy to sit down with you in chat Let's do it this week.

Oh awesome, man. You want my number?

Sure, you can give it to Stacy and she'll connect you Did you did you fill out that form real quick Celeste?

Can you grab that form and fill it out with his phone number so we can call him?

Somebody took him a phone.

Okay All right, thank you

Mayor Gatewood, that's all the public comment that we have for.

Chief, can you get that guy's, that information, because I want to, I'd like to know about what he was talking about. All right, thank you. All right, let's see, where am I at?

Okay, consent, all right, we're moving on to consent calendar items. Consent calendar items. Council reports.

Oh, I'm sorry, council reports. Joe. Uh... Nothing today. Isn't there a soccer game one? Why did we have it tonight? Linda?

Okay, so I've had three really outstanding experiences this week. The first one was the air camp graduation that's part of the California Capital Air Show. And I got to listen to my favorite lady, Colonel Meryl Tingestahl. She is one of the very few women who has ever flown the U-2. She is the only black woman who has ever flown the U-2. And she's written a gorgeous book. And now she's gotten an artist to commission. They don't call them comic books anymore. They call them something else. But in my era, they were comic books. But her speech to the kids is always impressive and inspirational. And it's one of those, because the whole goal of the air show is education for the next people, next generation of people who will defend this country. Second thing, we all attended the 10th anniversary of the very first phase of Mather Veterans Village and got to hear from several people who have been living there since day one, including a lady who has found a home, as nation's finest say, a secure home for her and her dog. And then, of course, the Fourth of July, which in Rancho Cordova is always spectacular, but this year was extra special because because of the 250th birthday of our country. But the weather was hospitable, and there were more people on Coloma Road than ever before. And that evening, I did not go the first night, Friday night, but Saturday night, that evening, it was kind of like a reunion. There were so many people who have lived here in Rancho Cordova, for a very long time. And everybody had a great time visiting with old friends and celebrating the 250th birthday of Rancho Cordova and the 23rd birthday of the city of Rancho Cordova.

Is David on yet?

He is.

David, in the universe somewhere, would you like to say what you've been up to?

Can you hear me?

We hear you. All right.

I'm on one of those hotel connections that's really iffy. I'm trying to live with my video here. Linda, I think, covered most of the high points. I think the 4th of July was spectacular. While we don't have official numbers yet, odds are this is going to be the most highly attended event. 4th of July events that we have we've ever held in Rancho Cordova. And that's that's saying something because we're already by far the biggest 4th of July Independence Day events in Rancho or in the in the region. As you guys, I think all of you were in the parade. That was a remarkable level attendance along that freight route. That was Linda and I were talking about, but I think probably the highest I've seen in in more than 20 years of doing that. And in the park, we had an awful lot of changes this year into how that event worked. We protected some neighborhoods nearby who usually are inundated with parking, some of it illegal parking. I think that had an impact on parking elsewhere, probably in the city. We'll have to sort that out. It was sort of an after event talk about it, what we could do better, what we did differently. We changed the way cars enter the facility. I think that caused some slowdowns in some cases. And I think there's some modifications that we had in place years ago, but then sort of fell by the wayside, unfortunately. that might assist with that. But as far as I can tell, everything in the park itself ran like clockwork. The drone show was great. The fireworks were pretty awesome. Um, the, uh, everyone seemed really satisfied. I've gotten almost no complaints. About anything I spent some time actually with the crowd as they were coming in talk with them, but what their experience was, what their memories were. What they needed to do once they got in all kinds of really fun discussions and it really reminded me of how important events like this are to our community. Because while there are a lot of people from the region there, there are a ton of people from Rancho Cordova there, some of whom think of this almost as a community reunion of a sort. Because people kept telling me, I see people I know here who I haven't seen in a long time. And that really warms my heart because one of the main reasons to do events like this is to build community. And that's exactly how it works. So kudos to Shelly. Blanchard at the grover county council, and all the tremendous staff there. Basically give up a month of their life to make this thing work and work, you know, 120 hour weeks to be sure it works. They're going to get a little period of rest here in the next month. So it'll be a quiet period for the community council. But they did it again tremendous success. I think when Maria gets around to showing us our media imprint, probably later this week, it will be off the charts in terms of what sort of image. We presented for for the region. So, I think I'm going to leave my, my report at that. I would say I could not unmute myself earlier when the gentleman was talking about courtly Scott's. Linda will remember that was a horrific murder that occurred. I think in the year 2000, there was a. Rather young offender from El Dorado Hills, who was convicted of. Of her kidnapping and eventual murder, which did not happen. The kidnapping did occur in Rancho Cordova. The murder, I think, occurred elsewhere. And as far as I know, he was given a life sentence. For possession of child pornography as well as. Her murder, and he is probably still in either federal prison or state prison. But that was a, as far as I know, a solved crime. I think it was solved as soon as 2001 with court action. That predates the city too, by the way. Other than that, I have no other report. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, David. All right. I'll just echo David's thing. Amazing 4th of July. The parade was fun. I always enjoy hanging out with everyone and walking the streets.

You did.

I rid in the back of a car and threw candy and alienated everybody who said, don't throw candy, but went out like a champ. So that was fun. And then, honestly, greatest way to meet all the community, because you forget how many sides we have in this city when they all come together, because everyone loves a carnival. And the acrobats were amazing. Not acrobats, but the, yeah, no, there were acrobats and a circus, which was new. And that was cool. And they did that motorcycle thing where the person stands a little and the motorcycles go around them at like a really fast pace. And then they had interesting food. And I don't know when people decided to put cream in soda and call it dirty soda. Have you seen this? They give you a diet soda and they put cream in it. It's weird.

In the 50s, they used to put lots of things in Coca-Cola.

Including cocaine. But we don't do that anymore. But yeah, it was a great event. And thank you so much Cordova Community Council for championing that and exhausting yourself and all those hundreds of volunteers that show up and do that just because they love Rancho Cordova. And just word of the wise, take it from your mayor, a pie eating contest is a terrible idea. So bad. And because I didn't know you're not supposed to eat the pie. You're supposed to smoosh the pie around. But I ate two pies. And then Micah was next to me eating two pies. And then there was a little girl that was next to us. that said, you're not supposed to eat the pies. And I was like, let me stop. And then the sugar high and fall that I had was awful. And I didn't want to be the mayor on TV that threw up at the 4th of July. But it was awesome.

And so how many hot dogs did you eat?

15. That's easy. But pie is full of sugar. And I took a handful of pie and I ate it and I was like, this is a mistake. That was when I knew that I had done something wrong and I needed to stop.

Micah. Well, thank you, Mayor, for that. I will echo that mistakes were made signing up for pie eating contests. And although it was a lot of fun for the community, hopefully, and celebrating the 4th of July. And really want to echo just the congratulations to the community council and our city team that supports a lot of the different efforts and things that go into the Third and fourth events I will provide a little bit of update now on kind of the drone activity and I know illegal fireworks or something that Is a concern for our community and for all of us and so there were six Enforcement teams out on the third and fourth and generally the third was relatively quiet the fourth was not and so the drone team was very active that night and just we're still going through the different kind of information from the different drone teams but just one drone team alone captured 252 illegal fireworks and probably end up more than eight citations and as you know our new rules are thousand dollars each for those different citations and different individual fireworks so we will see what those final numbers come in but it will probably be a much bigger number that has been in the past for our citations for a little fireworks so I think with that I think the only thing that happened in the last couple weeks was the opening of Metro fires training facility which was great that vice mayor budge also attended and then also just a reminder that This is our only regular council meeting for this month, and the next council meeting in two weeks will be dark. So we'll have our next meeting on August 3rd, regular calendar, except for the workshop on July 28th. That's it for me.

All right, thank you. We're gonna move on to consent calendar items. Consent calendar items consist of matters deemed routine and non-controversial by staff unless a member of the council wishes to pull an item for an individual, considering all items will be approved in one motion. Are there any items the council wishes to pull from the consent calendar item? Stacey, is there any public comment?

There is no public comment for items on the consent calendar, and I do not see any hands raised in Zoom.

May I have a motion on the public calendar?

Then hearing none, I will move approval of items 9.1 through 9.7.

May I have a roll call, please?

The motion was Linda? Second. Okay, thank you. Council Member Little? Yes. Council Member Sander?

Aye. Aye.

Council member Pulipati is absent. Vice Mayor Budge? Yes. Mayor Gatewood?

Yes.

The motion passes, thank you.

We're gonna move on to consent public hearing items. Consent public hearing items consist of matters deemed routine and non-controversial by staff unless a member of the council wishes to pull an item for individual consideration. All items will be approved in one motion. I'm gonna go ahead and open the public hearing item and ask Stacey is there any public comments?

There is no public comment for items on the consent public hearing calendar, and I do not see any hands that are raised in Zoom.

I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and ask, are there any items council wishes to pull?

Hearing none, I will move approval of 10.1 and 10.2. Second.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Council Member Little? Yes. Council Member Sander? Yes.

All right.

Councilmember Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge? Yes. Mayor Gatewood? Yes. The motion passes.

All right, we're gonna move on to public hearing items. And I'm gonna ask Stacey to announce the subject.

Yes, the subject for item 11.1 is a resolution of formation to modify the Rancho Cordova Tourism Business Improvement District.

Amanda, can I have my staff report, please?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I'm Amanda Norton with the Economic Development Department. And as the slide opens, I'll go ahead and start to keep the meeting moving forward. So there's a little history from the previous three meetings on Rancho Cordova does have a tourism business improvement district. It was originally established back in 2010. It has been amended in 2021. And now we are looking to modify the district, and we have been moving forward in that process. There are two specific items that we are discussing for modification. The first is currently the entire city boundary lines, which you'll see in yellow, is Zone 1. That will remain, as well as the assessment rate Not a tax, but the assessment rate, which is currently 4.5%, will remain the same. The modification will be to add the green you'll see in the middle there. That will now be called the DOVA zone. And the difference would be in that specific area, the assessment rate would be, rather than the 4.5%, it will be 6%. Excuse me, 6.0%. There is a very specific streets and highways code process that we must follow in these proceedings We have previously already done the resolution of attention all 17 hotels have been noticed as appropriate There was previously a public meeting which occurred back in June and then this evening We are looking to receive any and all protests related to this and have the final public hearing. I At this point, just as a little recap, again, we are looking to receive all written and or if any business owners decide to come forward tonight, proposed assessments, they can talk about that this evening. And then, again, the two boundaries would be adding this additional DOVA zone in addition to the regular zone, and then the additional assessment of 6.0% versus 4.5. And that ends my portion of the presentation this evening.

Thank you. I will now open the public hearing on result of the majority protest proceeding and modification of the Rancho Cordova Tourism Business Improvement District. Members of the public and affected business owners may share public comment at this time as it relates to, for, or against the modification. Comments will be limited to three minutes or less. Stacy, is there any public comment?

Yes, we do have a public comment. Howard Herships, if you'd like to come forward. You'll have up to three minutes.

On June 15th, I appeared at this hearing and informed your council members that there's some serious problems with the nonprofit and how they implement the collection of the TBID tax. which they do after the 30th day of occupancy, which violates California law. I've distributed the state law which holds to the proposition that you can't collect the tax after the 30th day. They continue to do so. The state legislature enacted SB 346, last year, 2025, and they did an analysis of the TBID tax and said that it's only valid for the first 30 days. After that, it cannot be charged because it violates California Revenue and Tax Code. But there's additional problems with the nonprofit whose violates both federal and state law with their excessive salaries because it's public benefits. It's the self-dealing of them taking approximately $1 million in salaries for staff positions of some poor people. And the CEO gets over $320,000 a year, and he's supposedly under a contract where you can't do that under federal law. I have filed, actually, a whistleblower complaint, and I've gotten a response from the IRS, and they're investigating the excess of salaries, which could impose a 200% tax on the facility and they could lose their nonprofit status. I think the city has an obligation to ensure that the self-dealing be put a stop to. You just can't say, I need X amount of money per month The IRS guidelines hold that his salary shouldn't be over $150,000. He's collecting 320,000. So I would oppose any increase. Any questions about this procedure, please wrap up your comments Please wrap up your comments. I'm finished basically.

Thank you. All right.

Thank you All right, Stacy. Is there any of other public comments online or in the council?

There is no additional public comment in person or on zoom

All right, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. Can we ask Amanda for comments?

Joe wants to hear it. All right, Fred, I'm going to close. Come on up. I'll close it. Come on.

All right, good evening, Mayor Gatewood, Vice Mayor Budge, and City Council. It's a pleasure to be with you here tonight, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Not able to speak about those previous comments because there's litigation that Mr. Herships has filed against the city, as well as our organization. I can say that he- Could you identify yourself for the record? Yeah, I apologize. Yeah, Mark Saposnik with Visit Rancho Cordova. Yeah, so I'm not at liberty to discuss some of the misinformation that was just mentioned here, but anyhow, pending litigation. So as the city's destination management organization, Visit Rancho Cordova is committed to growing tourism, increasing overnight stays, and enhancing the visitor experience. The Dova project has this potential to attract new events, tournaments. Here there's even soccer coming. new tournaments, events, concerts, visitors from throughout the region and beyond, and this is going to generate significant economic activity while elevating Rancho Cordova's profile as a premier destination. This is why on behalf of Visit Rancho Cordova's Board of Directors, I want to extend our support of the amended management district plan and the creation of the Dover Zone. This amendment represents an important investment in Rancho Cordova's future. By allowing future tours and business improvement district revenues generated within the Dover zone to be reinvested back into the Dover district, we are creating a sustainable funding mechanism that supports the development of the Dover arena and the broader Dover district. The board recognizes that these types of projects require vision and partnership, and we appreciate the leadership of city council, of city staff, of Causepeer Development and all of the other partners who have worked to move this initiative forward. And I want to thank our Board of Directors for approving the funds needed for this amendment, which was a significant amount. Like each of you, we are hopeful to see this vision become reality over the next several years, and we look forward to watching the Dover Arena and district actually take shape. On behalf of Visit Ranch Cordova Board of Directors, we respectfully encourage your approval of the amended management district plan. We are excited about the opportunities that this project can create for our community and what will come in the future. So thank you, Mayor Gatewood and City Council for championing this project on the city level. And I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

All right. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing item. And then I'm gonna call Stacey, the city, call on the city clerk.

Yes. The city has received zero written protests. The calculated weight of the protests received is not equal to or greater than 50%, therefore a majority protest does not exist. Based on the final tally, a majority protest does not exist, as mentioned, And at this time, because a majority protest does not exist, it is appropriate for the city council to consider the resolution to modify the district.

So let's ask the city manager if the city is also involved in the lawsuit. That would preclude staff from discussing any of the issues that were raised.

So I would probably defer to our city attorney on kind of some of those questions, but I would say, you know, generally we don't comment on litigation. It is outside of the process of this. And so I'll let city attorney Lindgren address any of those.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. The city is not specifically a party to that litigation. I would say that the two issues that Mr. Hershop's raised this evening, the exact manner of collecting the tax and the amount of the salary that are paid to individual staff members, including the executive, Are not specifically subjects that are contained within the plan. That's before you here tonight What's before you here tonight is an amendment to the plan. It does appear that Mr. Hership is primarily aimed his concerns at the the management itself, some specifics of the management and operation of the district. Those could be subjects for future oversight, for future discussion by the council, but I don't believe that they're specifically and particularly before you in this item. That's on the council's desk this evening.

And I do understand that. Obviously, what an organization chooses to pay its employees is their business. The other issue sounds more like a process issue.

Yeah, I would say, you know, from a sense of those are different issues than what's before us tonight. As the clerk mentioned, there were zero individual hotels that have protest, which is this process is for the hotels and the ones being assessed this additional assessment. And so this has zero opposition from the hotels themselves.

Okay, then hearing no concerns from the council, then I will move approval of the resolution of formatting the modification of the Rancho Cordova T-Bid.

I'll second that motion with a request to staff that we do take a look at those underlying issues. We kind of sort of heard about them last time and haven't really had any discussion about them this time. At some point, we probably should.

And I would agree with David.

All right.

Roll call. So we'll start the roll call with Councilmember Sander. Aye. Councilmember Little. Councilmember Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge. Yes. Mayor Gatewood.

Yes.

The motion passes.

All right. Moving on. Thank you.

Move on to regular calendar items and wait for.

Stacey, can you go ahead and announce the first subject?

Yes. Item 12.1, a resolution authorizing the submission of local authority recommendations to the California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for Opportunity Zones 2.0 census tract designations and related actions.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council. I'm Laura Fickle, Economic Development Manager here at Citi. I'm here tonight to talk to you about Opportunity Zones and the nomination process for eligible census tracts for this designation. Excellent. I'm going to be looking to you for authorization to adopt a resolution that will help make our application stronger. So I'm going to give you a brief overview, a high-level overview of Opportunity Zones in case it's new to anyone. I'll describe our role in the process for nomination. And then we'll talk about the priority census tracts that we'll be recommending. So the purpose of the program, if anyone remembers, it was originally initiated as a 2017 temporary initiative under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and as a tax incentive opportunity for capital gains. It was later made permanent last year on July 4 as under the Internal Revenue Code and will be an ongoing 10-year cycle. for the investment period. The purpose of the Opportunity Zones is really to make these under-invested areas more competitive for private capital. So they can use that capital to invest in projects for commercial, industrial, real estate, housing, infrastructure, and both existing and startup businesses. The eligible census tracts have federal designated criteria that they have to meet, and that includes a poverty rate of at least 20% and a median family income less than 125% of the area median, or without that poverty rate designation, at least median family income at or below 78% of the area median. Right now, in the timeline, applications are open. The deadline is July 25th to submit. As I mentioned before, a resolution will help make our application stronger. In August, the state's going to release the preliminary list of nominated tracks, and that's when we'll be doing outreach and preparation to submit letters of support from various agencies, property owners, developers, and other stakeholders in these property these designated census tracts january 1st is when they're going to be certifying those designations and then that kicks off the 10-year investment period the four census tracts we're looking to recommend are really centered around the priority census track which is the airport as you can see 88.03 and then the adjacent mather business park that is in the city limits this is also a high priority census track for the county Second is ninety point zero seven that is just north of that tract which is Maitherfield Road up to highway 50 and then ninety point zero six it goes west of north of Maitherfield Road to Bradshaw north of 50 and then Routier south of 50 with Folsom Boulevard Boulevard on the north and the ninety point zero eight is east of Maitherfield to Zinfandel Folsom Boulevard to the north and highway 50 to the south and So with the adoption of this resolution, we will begin coordination with Sacramento County to submit an application for 88.03 census tract. And then we'll do three separate applications for the other census tracts. And then we'll be looking to gather those letters of support from elected officials and then the other stakeholders we mentioned too for the public comment period in August. And then if those, any of those census tracts get designated, we will be looking to work to do further education and outreach to gather support and inform stakeholders and then also be collaborating on a strategy to use this as an economic development tool to the best of our capabilities. If 88.03 gets selected, we will be coordinating that effort with Sacramento County's Economic Development Department. And that's it. Any questions?

Hold on. Let me see if there's any. Stacey, is there a public comment online or in the council?

There is no in-person public comment, and there are currently no hands that are raised in Zoom.

All right. Council, any questions?

Linda? 88.03, does that include any housing other than our Mather veterans housing projects?

No, not currently.

So just in terms of the

what is intended to be the potential for these Opportunity Zones. We have a list of what makes them more visible to all these people that might develop. But has anybody experienced any advantages with these opportunity zones or any increased economic activity because of developing these things?

That's a really good question. Not directly in the city, to my knowledge. And I think the reason I mentioned that we want to have a dedicated economic strategy to them is to understand and to fully take advantage of it. So up until now, I don't believe that, unless anyone else knows, but I don't know of any other activity that's happened for these current opportunity zones now. So that's why I want to dedicate some effort to it.

Okay. So, and I realize that they are also identified in terms of basically demographics. But when you look at the fact that three of them have almost zero undeveloped land, three of them are mostly residential. So then the question is, what kind of increased investment do you think could potentially happen there? Or what will you be advertising for?

Well, that's the opportunity, right? Once these census tracts get designated, we'll be working with those stakeholders, the property owners, other area officials, and then also identifying other funding that might be out there to kind of layer an economic strategy. There is a lot of commercial areas of opportunity, too, for... kind of rehabilitation revitalization and then to your point in the mather business park there's a lot of undeveloped land to address and i think having singular property owners out there you know just a handful that we could really work with on a strategy on how to take advantage of it would be good Okay.

Vice Mayor, as well, this isn't just a real estate. This is actually can be used for actually investing in businesses as well. So I think it's not just a real estate play, but if you're actually a business within an opportunity zone, an investor makes investment into that business, you can actually take advantage of this as well. So it's not just a property incentive, but also a business incentive for people investing in businesses in those zones.

Okay. Right. Thank you, Micah.

All right.

That's it?

Are you looking for a?

Adoption of a resolution.

Okay, let's go ahead and adopt the resolution. Do I have a motion?

Did we ask for a comment?

I did ask for a comment.

He did, and there's no public comment.

Okay, then I will move approval of item 12.1.

Roll call, please. I'll second. Nice. Double second. Roll call, please.

Council Member Sander.

Aye.

Council Member Little.

Yes.

Council Member Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge. Yes. Mayor Gatewood. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you.

All right. Let's go on to 12.2. Discussion and direction on general update preferred land use alternatives. And I'm gonna ask Stacy to read the subject.

I will go ahead and read that. Discussion and direction on the general plan update preferred land use alternative. And we'll turn it over to Arlene.

Arlene and Jones for staff report.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. It's Arlene Granados and Jones. I'm Arlene Granados from Planning Department. We are here tonight as a continuation of discussion held with City Council on May 26th regarding general plan update, preferred land use alternative. The project team received feedback at the meeting from Council and we're back here tonight to present modifications to the preferred land use alternative. and the different ways the general plan and subsequent actions will address council concerns. I'm gonna turn it over to our project consultant on the presentation.

All right, good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of the city council. My name is Chelsea Norton. I'm leading the consultant team that's helping the city with the general plan update. As Arlene mentioned, this is our second conversation focused on the preferred land use alternative for the general plan. When we were here on May 26, we walked you through in detail the land use alternatives and presented the preferred alternative that was being recommended by city staff and the Planning Commission. You had some questions and expressed some concerns, and so we've gone back, we've looked through the alternatives, and we're here tonight to address those questions and concerns and present to you a refined recommendation. So just a quick reminder of the process. We developed the land use alternatives earlier this year, and we took them out to the community at workshops and pop-up events. And based on what we heard from the community, we brought a recommendation to the planning commission in April. And then we came before the City Council on May 26 for a decision. And tonight we are at the City Council again seeking approval of a preferred land use alternative so that we can move forward with preparing the general plan land use diagram and drafting the general plan goals and policies. very quick refresher the base alternative is essentially the the no change alternative it's a very slightly modified version of the 2006 general plan diagram and alternatives a and B were presented as two options for ways to increase flexibility and remove barriers to infill development in focused areas of the city The City Staff and Planning Commission recommendation that we presented in May was a blend of alternatives A and B. And tonight we're going to be focused on the pieces of that recommendation where the Council had questions and concerns. To summarize what we heard from the City Council in May, we heard about the importance of maintaining a jobs-housing balance. making sure that we're focused on preserving and growing jobs, not wanting to restrict new employment uses in office parks. There was concern about the potential fiscal impact of too much housing in office parks and commercial areas, making sure that existing businesses could stay on Folsom Boulevard as the land use designations are changed, avoiding an overconcentration of apartments, and ensuring that new high density housing is of high quality design and then comments around expanding the city center boundary. So tonight, I'm gonna walk through the concerns organized around the three areas where these comments came up the most, office parks, Folsom Boulevard and the city center. So for each of those areas, I'm gonna remind you what the original land use recommendation was and we can talk about how the recommended land use alternative has either been modified or how the general plan can address concerns. So starting with office parks, this is what we presented in May. The existing office mixed use designation of the general plan would be replaced by two new general plan land use designations, innovation mixed use and dark blue that would allow for increased flexibility for the office parks to adapt in the future. The innovation mixed use would allow professional offices, commercial, and also multifamily housing at 20 to 80 units per acre. The advanced industrial and light blue would allow office, R&D, incubator space, light industrial, supportive commercial, so a whole range of employment uses, but would not allow for housing. The concerns we heard from the council were about balancing housing and jobs, preserving and growing jobs, making sure that we aren't restricting employment or industrial uses that the council would want to see in these areas, like research and development or data centers, and concern about potential unintended consequences of allowing too much housing in office parks. I want to speak directly to those concerns. First, it is worth noting that the existing general plan allows housing in all office park areas today. And so the advanced industrial designation is intended to be more protective of jobs compared to the status quo, not less protective. It preserves the areas shown here in light blue for the broad range of flex industrial and employment uses where housing would not be allowed. Um, second, uh, the planning staff did ask for additional input from the economic development department staff. Um, and we have slightly expanded the advanced industrial designation to cover some more parcels from what we proposed on May 26th, um, responding to direction to make sure we're focused on preserving, um, and growing job generating land uses. And then third, for areas that would be within the innovation mixed use, again, the existing general plan does allow for housing in these areas. We're looking at ways to allow for, to remove any barriers to adopting the office parks. But as we move into the general plan policies, we can bring forward policies that would protect against the loss of office space, even where housing is allowed. For example, housing could be a permitted use in certain areas, like vacant lots, service parking lots. But we could have some protections restricting housing that would displace existing businesses. So that's just an example of the type of policy as we move into the next phase of the project that we could be considering. And the second of the second area that I want to focus on is Folsom Boulevard. As a reminder, staff and the Planning Commission recommended the an alternative that designates much of Folsom Boulevard as transit corridor and mixed use, which would continue to allow a broad range of uses like it does today, commercial uses like retail services, restaurants, hotels, plus professional offices, and multifamily housing at a density of 20 to 60 units per acre. And then around the light rail stations, the transit-oriented development overlay would apply to parcels within roughly a quarter mile of light rail stations and allow for increased densities of up to 100 units per acre. Some of the conversation and concerns were around wanting to make sure that existing commercial businesses can stay and that we aren't losing sales tax revenue through the changes. Providing a variety of housing types and income levels so we avoid an over concentration of apartments or affordable housing in one area of the city. protecting single family neighborhoods through height transitions and making sure that high density buildings are high quality and designed at a human scale using new urbanist principles like walkability and a strong public realm. So taking those concerns sort of one at a time, I wanna show a transit corridor mixed use does not require housing. So that means existing businesses can continue to operate exactly as they do today. So nothing about changing the designation would force a commercial property to redevelop. On the topic of housing variety, what we're aiming to do with a higher density range of 20 to 60 units per acre is to actually give more flexibility, not less, on the range of housing that could be built on the corridor. So rather than pushing everything towards one housing product type at the lower end of the range, it would increase variety. One of the other things we're trying to accomplish by allowing some higher densities along the Folsom Boulevard corridor is to align the city's density standards a little more closely with state law. Specifically, a recent change in state law, Senate Bill 79, requires high densities at light rail stations. And so by increasing some of the allowed densities along the whole corridor and at light rail stations, we're trying to set up the city to potentially have more control over what gets built around stations through the possibility for developing a local ordinance or a local approach rather than defaulting to the standards of SB 79. On the concern around height transitions, the city's current design standards already require heights to step down near single family neighborhoods. So that protection is in place with the city's adopted design standards. And then speaking to the concern around the quality of design, city staff and my team at Ascent are already working on updating, looking at the city's design standards and recommending updates for mixed use and multifamily development to reflect New urbanist principles like walkability, a strong public realm, quality architecture. That's a project that's moving in parallel with the general plan update and something that we will be bringing forward to you at another time as part of that other project. And then finally on the city center, the recommendation that we brought forward in May is to create an entertainment district surrounding the proposed arena, replacing what's currently designated as a convention overlay with a new entertainment mixed use designation. That's the area shown in bright pink. At the last meeting, we also showed a proposed boundary for a city center planning area. It wasn't a land use designation. It was a boundary for a planning area. And your direction was to expand the city center boundary further west. to Zinfandel, South to International to include the civic uses within that district, so where we're sitting here tonight. And we can certainly do that. We can certainly look at the boundary. But the boundary of the city center doesn't need to be finalized tonight because it's not a land use designation change. It's something that we can establish as we develop the general plan policies for this area. So we can carry your direction forward from the May 26 meeting and do that in the next phase of the project. So putting that all together, here's the recommended land use alternative as modified in response to your direction. This is the map honing in on the areas of change where the land use diagram would be changing under the staff and planning commission recommendation. We're asking for the direction from city council to move forward with these changes to the general plan land use diagram in these areas shown. And then here's the full map at a larger scale so you can see how those pieces fit together across the city. And I'm happy to come back to either of those maps in more detail if there are any questions. But to summarize our ask tonight city staff recommends that the City Council approve the planning Commission's recommended land use map as modified. With direction to include general plan policies that prevent the loss of jobs and employment centers maintain a jobs, housing balance. protect the fiscal health of the city, incorporate human-scale design and new multifamily development, and create a city center that serves as the city's civic heart, central business district, and entertainment destination. And this recommendation would give us a land use diagram to move forward with while making sure that we have the policies in the general plan that reflect the priorities you laid out in May. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Stacey, do we have any public comment online or in the chamber?

I do not have any speaker cards for this item, and looking on Zoom, there are no hands that are raised. Okay, so I have a question.

Linda.

So, it looks like what you're presenting has not been updated since May. But what are you planning to do with comments that each of us may have given you when we met with you individually?

Thank you for that comment, Vice Mayor Budge. So we did change slightly some of the parcels for the AI industrial land use designation as a response to some of the concerns regarding converting too much of the land into opening it up for residential uses. And we also did remove the recommended city center kind of overlay, not quite a land use designation, but just a planning area so that we can look at it closely and maybe determine either a larger boundary or a boundary that's going to be more inclusive of specific priority areas that the council would like to identify. So we did make some slight changes to the actual land use that we designated, but we did provide as just a clarification on how we would address some of the comments that we received at the May 26th meeting, which focused a lot on zoning code updates, design guideline updates. So we didn't do a lot of changes to the land use, but we did identify how we would be addressing it in the general plan.

Okay, so very specifically, since I was quite specific about my concerns about the boundary of the city center. So what are you gonna do about that in the long run?

So we would actually identify what that would be in a subsequent action for an actual master plan for the city center. So that wouldn't occur here in the general plan land use, but we would create a master plan for that specific area so that we can determine where the boundaries would be most appropriately in any design standards or regulations that we would have for that specific area.

So I'm not following you since you you want us to choose a recommended land use map, but the land use map doesn't include a city center that is either accurate based on where the city seems to be going as well as allow for the kinds of uses that we have been discussing for several months now of the different, reusing the different buildings, office buildings that we have around here that are not used. It seems to me that you can't deal with that unless you deal with it tonight.

So I think that the land use designations that we have provided for those areas do introduce mix of uses that include office, industrial, residential, commercial. It still allows for all of those uses.

We're talking about the city center.

Correct.

Very specifically the city center.

Vice Mayor, if I can, let me try to talk about the city center a little differently. The city center, as we talked about in kind of these other conversations, the city center kept growing a little bit in size and scale, which I think was appropriate. And I think what we're talking about tonight is the city center isn't a land use designation. All of those land uses, entertainment, commercial, housing, all live within those current zonings. With the city center conversation that I think we're gonna come back to as more of a policy conversation is how all of those land uses interact with each other and how they relate to each other. The action tonight really isn't important from a city center standpoint, but for how we basically talk about how they interact with each other. The underlying land uses allow for all of those designations. The city center really is a policy choice and a urban design and some of the goals of those different zones when they're there. But I think we want to have a further conversation about the city center and what those goals and objectives are for that future guidelines and policy direction. It really isn't a zoning designation. And I think that's where we're trying to get to the zoning designation so that we can come back to those conversations around the city center and some of those different pieces around that guidebook.

So in our original general plan, We had a very specific area designated as convention district. And we had a very specific area designated as a downtown district. Okay? And so I can't, I'm not finding any logic in not creating something called a city center district.

Let me ask, those convention zones came after the general plan or during the general plan process?

During the general plan. And the convention, they both were part of the general plan. They were overlays in the general plan. And the proposal for the convention overlay is rather than an overlay, create a new land use designation of entertainment mixed use. So that's the treatment of the convention overlay. We had discussions about whether the downtown Rancho Cordova is along Zinfandel or whether the energy is shifting to the entertainment mixed-use land use designation around Sunrise with the proposed arena.

But it's shifting even farther to the west, as we talked about on the phone, based on... properties that the city is attempting to acquire and so it's not logical from my perspective that we don't acknowledge that in the in the land in the general plan and so to speak to the the downtown overlay on the in the general plan no city center downtown overlay was was a function of 2006. Right. And that never happened. Correct. All right. But here we are in 2026 and we finally found somebody who wants to use the convention center overlay. And so at this point in time we are actively looking at properties on international that could be a part of a city center That last sentence on that last slide you just showed encompasses everything that we've been talking about for potential reuse of older buildings. And they're not old. They just happen to have been around here a long time.

I think what we're talking about is all of those things are still allowed in the current zoning. What I think and what I'm hearing, too, is the Civic Center name will continue to be discussed as a policy and in the conversation of the general plan, just not as a land use designation.

Civic Heart, CBD, and Entertainment Destination.

Correct. So I think that's where we're trying to get to a place where we have the underlying zoning. We want to talk about the future civic center conversation and how those all relate to each other. And it'll be a part of the general plan, just not as a land use designation. And I think what I think for us and I think for our team is we want to be careful with how many land use designations we layer into some of these different underlying zoning to allow us flexibility as we go after and some of those transitions change that I would recommend from this sense of making sure we don't have too many land use designations and more policy direction so we have that conversation about Where does the entertainment zone go? Where does the future civic center or community center go? And how do those relate to each other more as a policy and a direction than an underlying land use? And that's, I think, the recommendation today.

Well, having been through a kind of an earthquake sort of an upset, of all of the land use designations that everybody was used to at Sacramento County, and having previous planning directors completely change everything with the accompanying fallout, it just seems that if we don't take advantage of creating something that is broad enough to express all of what we think we might be able to do here is short-sighted.

I think we're saying the same thing. I think in the sense of the future conversation, I think where the question is whether it's a part of the land use designation, or is it part of the vision and the different policy choices that will come in the future? I don't know. Chelsea?

What do you want to say, Linda?

I just wanted to say Civic Center.

Can you make it say civic center?

It said, create a civic center.

She wants it to say civic center.

I think we would need specific areas where that would be. And I think when we had the conversation, we kind of didn't have a very solid boundary. So it's not that we're removing this opportunity. It's that we're deferring it to another action that we can actually support in the policy of the general plan.

Okay, and I'm sorry, but I thought I was really very specific.

I was in that call, Vice Mayor, and we didn't really get the boundaries, and I think we had some concerns about whether it was appropriate for us to call it city center if, let's say, a business wanted to come in and they didn't want to be identified as a city center. That was something that came up during our conversation.

Wait, stop, stop. Linda wants it to say Civic Center. She has drawing area. What area did she want to say Civic Center? Because now I'm hearing that she drew something and gave it to you guys and it didn't indicate it. Do we know what it is? because I will be adjusting this to incorporate that.

So let me, let me, yeah, go ahead.

So a couple edges here. One is real property negotiations that we may be having in closed session. And another is that as staff said, if whenever the city zones a property in a way that the only allowed use is a public use, you've bought the land.

I understand, but this is not zoning. This is a general plan designation.

I understand, and state law requires- And what difference does it make if we include- State law requires that within a few months of having changed the general plan designation that you change the zoning to be consistent with it. Otherwise, it assumes that the only allowed designations are those under state law, are those in the general plan. So if you only allow a public use, you have, as staff just said, boxed yourself in- No, we didn't say only a public use. if the only allowed use is a Civic Center use and that's only a public use. I'm not being, I don't want to be too specific here, but the reason why uses are not, that in general you only say public use on property that you're certain you're going to acquire is- I never said public use.

If you look at the Senate's Central Business District, Isn't Kaiser an appropriate part of a central business district?

I don't know if that's a rhetorical question or not.

I think, you know, let me try to kind of get us to a conclusion. I think one of the things that we can talk about is a land use designation of a whatever we want to call it. This was also the conversation we had, whether it's civic center, community center.

But here again, we got to get away from the nomenclature of the land use designation because what we're talking about are general plan districts. And so if the general plan, if our general plan includes a district called city center,

So I guess for the team, does anything preclude us from having a district called Civic Center in the next phase of this conversation?

No, we're actually proposing that we come back with that, establish that planning area through more focused discussion as we get into the general plan policies. Because what we understand is that city center is meant to have a variety of land use designations. Right. not one singular designation called city center. And so I think that's what we're doing with the designations. We have an innovation mixed use that allows for a range of uses. We have the entertainment mixed use. We have an employment focused area. We have a commercial focused area along Folsom Boulevard. And all of that will be encompassed within a city center. The existing downtown overlay in the general plan didn't modify the underlying designations. It did allow for increased height. And so we can talk about if a city center should do that, but we're actually encompassing those densities proposed in the downtown overlay within the underlying designations of the general plan. And so we're trying to... The city center would be more of a broader... boundary that has all of these different land use designations that we're presenting.

Don't you think the last two decades has taught us nationally that if we want to respond to changing economic conditions and changing the general public's habits that the most expansive description possible is what gives us the broadest flexibility. I mean, absent a few grand mistakes, like the fact that light industrial includes warehouses. Okay, I mean, gee whiz.

I think we agree, and I think what maybe would be helpful tonight, and if we wanted to move this item forward, would be to approve the land use destinations, but make a direct recommendation or that we come back with the future city center, civic center, central business district designation for that future conversation. Because I think that's what we're not losing in this approval, is to basically have direction from, from you and the council, if you so choose, to come back for that conversation. Linda, stop.

Linda, what would you like to say? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious civic center plus? How would you like? Joe Little's home. Joe Little's home? Listen. You don't have to pick the name tonight. Listen, the chicken coop. Listen, Linda, how do you want it? Because you're my expert when it comes to this kind of thing.

I just, no, I'm sitting here in a room with a lot of really good planners.

Come on, planner. You're the expert at this. Come on. How do you want to be called?

Civic center?

Civic center?

But it just strikes me that we don't want to lose that opportunity. So whatever we do, I mean, because we're kind of presented with a. Blank slate. No, we're presented with a very specific recommendation to approve kind of what came out of the Planning Commission.

The land use?

The proposed land use diagram. And from my perspective, the land use diagram is not adequate. Approve a preferred land use alternative. And if it doesn't include the kinds of things that we've just spent 15 minutes talking about, it's not adequate.

Vice Mayor Budge, can I just get clarification on that? Do you want us to have a designation as city center and allow us for all the uses that are in how we're identifying it now in that land use? Is that what you want or is you want a master plan that has these underlying land uses but identifies the boundary of the city center? Because there'll be a difference between those two options.

I understand. If we start writing a master plan, we may limit what the possibilities are in the future. if we simply do it as a general plan designation with a generic description of opportunities. Because after all, we don't want to leave out entertainment because you've already got DoVA going on over here, okay? And we don't want to leave out a hospital because you've already got a medical center. So we don't want to leave out what's in between. We just need to make sure that we can include all that in whatever we call it.

So it sounds like we would like to move towards the land use designation itself that has more of the flexible uses, taking into account kind of all of these proposed developments that are occurring now in that city center land use designation. Is that correct?

And it really does need to be expansive. If you look at the way some of the buildings have turned over, like Pacific Coast, where Pacific Coast is now, that was the first location of the North State Nursing School. And then if you look at this giant parcel next door to Kaiser, Nobody knows what they're doing except they're using it for solar right this minute, so they could decide to actually go ahead and build housing out there.

Can I ask a clarifying question? So I make sure we have the direction correct? Do we want a city center boundary that is similar in how the downtown overlay functioned and that it was not the downtown in the existing general plan, the downtown boundary is not a land use designation. It's a boundary that has multiple land use designations.

Absolutely.

And so you want it to be essentially an overlay designation that has the underlying designations we're proposing around entertainment mixed use, innovation mixed use, the employment. Those can remain as the underlying designation, but you want a city center overlay boundary that has some other special policies tied to it.

And overlay works for me. I mean, personally, it works for me. We've had a lot of overlay zones. Our neighborhood protection areas, a variety of different overlay zones. some of which are legacy and some of which have been new. So that works for me.

So we could bring that forward with when we are working on the general plan policies that address certain areas. The downtown overlay didn't affect the underlying designations. It removed the height limit for the downtown, right? And it had policies associated with it. It did.

Because, for instance, I mean, one of the things we talked about from day one, if we were going to convert kind of Zinfandel to being our, you know, kind of our T downtown main street, then we wanted to give VSP an opportunity to build liner buildings that would have parking in the back of them and theoretically commercial on Zinfandel. And just like we had seen in Walnut Creek, you know, I mean, that's where the idea came from. But of course, they never did that. And nobody knows where VSP is nowadays anyway. But it gave them an opportunity to do something creative like that if they wanted to do that.

and and we we took those really great ideas of the downtown overlay and essentially built them into the underlying designation for that area trying to make it even more possible and removing barriers to make that happen and i think we could come what we're suggesting is that we can come back as we're working on the policies for the the city center on what that boundary should be and What's tied to it? What policies are we trying to enforce in those areas? But we're suggesting that it's not a land use designation change. It's going to be a boundary that can be determined as we talk about the policies for these different areas of the city.

And that works for me. It's just that the map that you were, the graphic you were showing us doesn't express that.

So do you need to make a change to the map?

If we're comfortable tonight moving forward with the underlying general plan designations, we might be able to come back with a focused discussion on the overlay boundary.

I think we could, I mean, I would recommend, you know, kind of for comfort for, you know, Vice Mayor Budge is if you do choose to approve the land use designations in the format is to then with that include the direction to come back with a civic slash business center overlay for including in the general plan.

Is that what you want?

Yeah, that would be good. I would simply call it Civic Center. I would not use the word business simply because it has its specific definition.

We could talk about the names in the future. Do you need to come back and redo the map too?

I would hope they come back to us with a map that has the overlaid zone designated in it.

What's it called again?

Overlay.

Overlay. Now, can I ask you a question? Why do you want this? Why is this so critical to us non-planners?

I understand. It's what I said a little bit ago. If we've learned anything in the last two decades, we have learned that flexibility for our business community, for our residents, has got to be paramount in our planning lexicon. If we tie ourselves down, we need to be specific enough that people know what they can do, but we don't want to be so specific that they think they can't do what they want to do.

Got it. and as we have the more AI and all the new jobs coming in, we don't wanna make it so they can't go into a building because we overlaid and we wrote it in incorrectly. So this basically, and we're gonna call it the civic, Civic Center. Civic Center.

I would just recommend we don't have to name it today. It's a future conversation.

I appreciate the desire. Let me just warn you now. It's being named the Civic Center. I sat here for three hours.

We had a good conversation on Civic Center on another project in the future that was hard to describe. Maybe I have a little bit of feedback.

How about Civic Heart? All right. So can you make the motion? Because it sounds like you have some changes to it you need to make.

Okay. Okay.

David, hold on one second. David, you hear all that?

I did. I have just a couple of comments, Mr. Mayor. All right, go ahead. One is a short story. I think Linda's points about flexibility are absolutely on target. One short reflection on that is if you think about what has happened on the last generation in Midtown, all of the restaurants, night activities, this wonderful development that has reimagined Midtown over the past generation, none of that was accomplished by planning. The planners said, oh, it's going to be the rail yards. Oh, it's going to be Broadway. That's where we're going to get like, urban renewal and all the civic energy. And the great restaurant zones and the great nightclubs and stuff like that. It was midtown. So we need to be sure that if there is a midtown like event coming to us, we are not precluding that. with a general plan that sort of didn't anticipate the flexibility that might be necessary. That's point number one. So I endorse what Linda was talking about there. Point number two, we need to be very, Careful, and perhaps the word is defensive. With regard to our, our own ability to control our land use the state every single year is chipping away at what we can do and what we can't do. If there's any part of this strategy that it gives us more strength. in that relationship i think that is certainly worthy of of mention um i sort of heard in the presentation a slight reference to that but if there was any other discussion on that that would be of interest to me i think and finally i think the arena proposal as it as it sits would not exist except for an overlay that we did with regard to a convention center So that was not really anticipated to roll out that way, obviously, because we can't predict those sorts of things. But we did lay a groundwork that made enormous sense for the proponents and probably made that happen here versus not happening at all. That's been a huge, huge tool for them moving forward.

That is probably the most pertinent thing.

I don't know a couple of those questions probably can be addressed directly to one is the kind of protection so against the state designation and then I think the other is kind of the flexibility within the zone so it's actually I think what the goal was here is actually make those zonings more flexible so I think that's what you're seeing is a reflection of this new zoning is actually more flexibility to be able to adjust to whatever those different market conditions exist. But I don't know, Chelsea, if you want to just address the state law.

And it is, Mike, it is a delicate balance because like last meeting, we spent more time talking about this, but if suddenly everybody who owned property in our business district decided housing was the highest profit and they all wanted to do housing, that would wreck us. Yeah. So we have to have flexibility, but some safeguards.

I also think the market's got to be able to be there to actually do that. But also, that's where the policy direction will come in later in those conversations that you saw in the suggestion of, you know, kind of where you're going to put that housing and some other restrictions around making sure you keep those employment centers protected. So I think that's what was addressed in some of those future policy statements, too. But Chelsea, you want to talk? Yep.

Yeah, I can speak to that. And I will say one of the main objectives here for this process was to increase flexibility to remove barriers to infill development. And that was really what was behind is behind our recommendations in this area. So it it absolutely focuses on that. Mike, I think you wanted me to focus on the state control and what I what I. Discuss very briefly about Senate bill 79 So Senate bill 79 went into effect on July 1st. So just was that last week and It requires that if if a project wants to come forward That qualifies it has the right mix of affordable and market rate housing the city could not deny a project of a hundred units per acre within a quarter mile circle radius essentially around a transit station and or 80 units per acre within a half mile radius around a transit station, which extends well beyond the Folsom Boulevard corridor. There is an opportunity for the city to develop a local TOD alternative plan and present that to the state as the city's alternative approach to Senate Bill 79. or to develop a local ordinance and prove to the state that it can have the same capacity that SB 79 could have. And so what I suggested is that by starting to get close to those state densities, but we're trying to avoid putting those densities into the single family neighborhoods and focus them along the corridor. We're trying to set the city up to have a little more local control with how that law is implemented. Now, we haven't done a full analysis of the city. We're not proposing a TOD alternative plan. I was suggesting that we're trying to set the city up to be able to do that and retain some local control. But that's a future analysis. That's a zoning tool. That's a... But that's what I was speaking to around trying to retain some local control around the light rail stations. So we assume that bus stops aren't part of that? No, it's just the light rail stations. It's just light rail.

So it would probably really help us to have a graphic that shows those quarter mile and half mile radius around light rail.

Yes, we have those maps. We could show them now. We could show them at a future meeting. Oh, that's okay. But yeah, they're available. SACOG has published those maps of the SB 79 eligible areas, and it extends a half mile from the light rail station. So that's going to be a future action down the road, but we're keeping that in mind as we propose some densities along the Folsom Boulevard corridor.

We understand.

Thank you.

OK, so if you want a motion, I think. Hold on.

Joe? Joe and I have nothing. Please continue.

I guess the I'm not sure what the proposed land use diagram is, if you want us to adopt that.

So, Vice Mayor, it would be the preferred land use diagram that's in our attached. I'm going to have Persephone pull it up right now. It would be the same one that Planning Commission recommended from their public hearing with your change. From what I'm hearing is the city center or civic center overlay.

Civic center overlay.

Yeah, an addition of the Civic Center overlay. And then also, including general plan policies that prevent loss of jobs and employment centers ensure jobs, housing balance, incorporating human scale design, all the kind of bullet points that we added to that last city staff recommendation slide would be included as well in the motion.

Okay. then I will move what you just said.

Nice. You have to repeat that, Stacy. Did you hear it? Go ahead.

Should I just read the whole staff recommendation?

You can read the staff recommendation, and our city attorney is going to also listen.

With your amendments.

With your amendments.

So, okay, city staff recommends. So, council to approve the Planning Commission's recommended land use map as modified by city staff with direction to include general plan policies that prevent the loss of jobs in appointment centers, ensure a job's housing balance, protect the fiscal health of the city, incorporate human-scale design and new multifamily development, and create a civic center overlay as the city's Civic Heart Central Business District and entertainment destination.

Here, here.

Do I have a second? Yes, you have a second. Can I have a roll call, please?

Yes. Council Member Little. Yes. Council Member Sander.

All right.

Council Member Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge? Yes. Mayor Gatewood? Yes. The motion passes.

All right. And I know that's nitty gritty, guys, but it's really critical because in 20 years, we just want to make sure that people are able to build as our district changes.

Hear, hear.

All right. Let's move on to appointees. This will be easy. Stacey, can you read the subject of 12.3?

Appointment of real property negotiators.

And then Adam.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're asking for an appointment of a couple real new property negotiators for an item that we would like to discuss with you in closed session this evening. As identified in the items in your staff report, this will allow us to go into closed session and receive direction for the city manager and myself.

Excellent.

So moved.

I'm going to ask for public comment. Stacey, here or online?

There is no public comment in person, and I am checking online. There is no hands that are raised on Zoom. Okay.

I had a first. It was Linda. Do I have a second?

Second.

Council Member Little is the second.

Oh, I can't hear that. It's so quiet. The best part is he keeps doing it. I hear nothing, so I fill the gap. God, this is fabulous.

You're going to have to teach the dog to go woof.

This technology is fabulous. That would be hilarious if your dog did a woof. All right.

Okay, we have a motion by Budge and a second by Little, and the roll call vote is Council Member Little.

Yes.

Council Member Sander. Aye. Council Member Polipotti is absent. Vice Mayor Budge. Yes. Mayor Gatewood. Yes. Motion passes.

All right, do we have any future agenda items?

Recording in progress.

Nice, good time to turn that on. Seeing none, I'm gonna go ahead and adjourn this meeting, but before I adjourn to close session, are there any public comments related to 16.1, 16.9 here or online?

16.1 through 16.9, there are no public comments that I have in person or online via Zoom.

All right, I'm gonna go ahead and close this meeting to closed session.

Recording stopped. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council and community. This evening, the City Council met in closed session and took up two topics of closed session business. One, existing litigation, City of Rancho Cordova defending litigation by Orion involving a billboard approvals. And the second, a series of real property negotiations on The real property negotiations the City Council received updates from and provided direction to its real property negotiators and on the litigation item the City Council received updates from and provided Direction to its litigation counsel counsel took no other reportable action this evening

In honor of USA Soccer trying really, really, really hard, but getting knocked out badly in the end. We love you guys. Just listen.

Well done, man.

Recording stopped.