City Council - Regular Meeting

We're a little uh behind here. We took a little long close session. We will come back out of close session. And Mr. Turp, could you give us a readout of close session, please? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The uh council did meet in close session beginning at 5:00. All members were present for the majority of the session. Uh the mayor showed up a few minutes late. Uh beyond that, there was no reportable action. All right. Thank you. He's being consistent. He's not being uh heard. Yes. Thank you. I was late. Yes. I

No, I I was not here, but I'm here now. So, um yes. Okay. It's time for the pledge of allegiance. So, please rise for the pledge of allegiance and then remain standing for the invocation. Van Djke. I'm pastor at Alman Valley Christian Reform Church just a few blocks down the road. It's my privilege to lead us in a prayer. Let's bow our heads. Oh Lord, we come and seek your blessing upon this meeting, upon these leaders, and upon this beautiful town. Lord, we are thankful for all of the ways that you have blessed every person in this town. We're thankful for rain today, but we also recognize how this complicates the work of so many farmers. And so we pray for your blessing upon them that they will bring in a plentiful a plentiful harvest and that they will persevere in their hard work during this season. We pray for wisdom for all of these leaders. Lord, we ask for safety for first responders, including police and fire department. We are thankful for the safety and prosperity of Ripen. We pray that you would preserve this town according to your will in Jesus name. Amen.

All right, second. We have a roll call, please. Council member Leo Zuber, here. Mike Rusha, preser. Vice Mayor Gary Barton present. Mayor Daniel here. Right. Moving on to public discussion. This time is provided to the public to address the council on items that are not on the agenda. Any public comment or anybody like to speak on things not on the agenda? Nothing online. Okay. We will move on to approval of the minutes of the city council's regular meeting September 9th and special meeting on September 26. So move second. You going to do the second. Thank you.

So what? I got to do that. I was waiting for a proper motion and second. All right. Okay. Approval of the agenda. Anybody pull anything from the agenda? I'd like to pull two 1.2A. I'm a paid director of Bank of Stockton and I'm going to step out of the room and leave my phone in here. 1.2A. Anything else? 1.2A. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? Move to approve as amended. Second.

I can't ask for a vote on that. It's not live. There we go. So, don't vote on that. We just did. Well, that was a consent calendar, but approve.

Hold on. Do we want to redo the vote on the agenda?

Yeah. Okay. So, 1.2A. Um, is there any need for discussion? Leo has a motion. Is there a second? Second. Let's approve 1.28. The Bank of Stockton. I think so. It's not taking a vote now. I'm not getting a clicker. I Oh, there it is. It's up now.

It went now. It took it on here. It says it's waiting on Mike, but he's out. So, all right. Yeah, it still says waiting on Mike. I don't Can you take his vote? Who? Me? No. [Music] Okay. All right. Now we will do consent calendar vote. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar? Second.

Motion a second. It's waiting on me. Sorry. All right. Public hearings. What is this? The um sandwich. What is this fee, Ken? I don't know. Long acronym. Habit habitat fee, right?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Fellow council members. This is the time of year we get to uh hold a public hearing and consider adoption of the uh annual habitat fees which would take effect on January 1st, 2026. Uh in the staff report, you can see the fees are going up a little bit. Um mostly all the land in Ripenas is zoned for multi-purpose open space. So it is about an 8.4% increase in the habitat fees. But with that, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Mayor. Be happy to answer any questions if you have any. Any questions from council?

I will just make my annual comment. Um, let's be clear. This is nothing but a tax. It's a tax on a developer on the land owner. Um, whether this is a good use of tax dollars, I'll leave it to those of the voting public. But, um, I think it's important to recognize exactly what this is. All right. Any other questions, comments? This is a public hearing, so we will open up the public hearing. Anybody from the public wish to speak? Anybody submitted comments online? Seeing none, we'll close public hearing. See the vote. Is there a motion to approve?

Go vote. You got them vote, Mike. Some of us want to pay our fair share, Gary. I can always count on you. All right. Uh 3A subdivision improvement agreement amendment number two. Ken. No, Kevin. Actually, I'll do this.

Okay. Elizabeth, do you mind pulling up the presentation? And you can put on slide two. There's only one one slide I'm going to go over in this. So, while she's pulling that up, I'll just give a little background. Uh, Meadowwood subdivision uh was approved to construct 88 single family homes. It's on the west side of Fulton Avenue. Uh, what's before the city council tonight are two proposed changes to the subdivision improvement agreement. Uh, the first one is related to Fulton Avenue. One of the conditions of approval, well, let me back up. Fulton Avenue right now um is four lanes between Arkway to Bosch Drive. So going from south to north at at Bosch Drive, it transitions to a two-lane road all the way to Colony Roundabout. As part of the Meadowwood uh conditions of approval, they're required to expand Fulton Avenue for to a four-lane road uh uh between Bosch and the northern limits of their project. Um as we were going through and looking at the design, we asked Lenar Homes, who is the developer of this project, to look at the transition uh or to extending that four lanes all the way to Colony Avenue. We believe that it improves the safety of the road and functionality of the road especially with the intersection of Shasta Avenue. So, um they've done that and what you could see on the uh the slide here on the left is what it would look like if it had the transition. So, um it would uh that the the lane that's heading in the southbound direction would veer further west as it approaches Shasta Avenue and then once it once that uh vehicle went through that intersection, it would be a two-lane um

Fulton Avenue continuing south. So, um and then to the right is the four lane. So you would have the the two lanes heading south um to that Shasta Avenue intersection and a lefthand turn lane on Shasta Avenue um there as well. So um the additional cost obviously this is not a condition of approval with LAR homes. The additional cost and not to exceed amount to do this is 70 $750,000. Um and that would not include landscaping along this section. it would just be um doing the um street and road improvements. Um staff would also propose that once the development uh north of Meadowwood happens, if you recall, that's the Meadow Brook project. They would uh reimburse um the city for these expenses. Um there you know when these projects come through there are some reimbursements with that but the majority of that would be a reimbursement from the meadow book project when that project um uh comes forward it which you know obviously uh there's no crystal ball. I don't know if it's going to be a year 10 years 20 years whatever it is but they would reimburse the city at that time. So these funds would come out of the AB1600 u uh transportation fee uh to to fund this. Um, as far right now, we have about $3.4 million in that account. The only other project that has been identified through the capital improvement planning that we've gone through the last couple years. Um, the priority for the city council is the um, North Ripen River Road signal project. Um, based off the preliminary estimates, they're working on that project right now. They're they're getting close to 30% and an updated cost estimate. We haven't seen that the early planning stages, what the cost was, some of the um outside funding sources that we've

identified for that project, there would be enough to do this project and continue forward with the North Rip and River Road project. Um so that's one element of the uh amendment to the SIA. The other um part of the SIA amendment is um allowing the the final map to be recorded at this time in LA Lonar Homes to move forward with the construction of 17 homes. the way it was originally um uh conditioned that um the final map which creates the 88 signal family um lots as part of this project um was also um a security in place to make sure all the on-site and off-site civil improvements were to be completed and it also limited LAR to not begin any construction of homes until that that map was recorded uh because of some of the delays that uh Lenar has experienced, including, you know, some of the work that we've done with this extension. Um staff was recommending that we do move forward with uh processing the final map now allowing LAR home LAR to begin the construction of 17 homes. They have agreed not to enter into sales agreements with those u potential buyers um until all of the civil improvements are accepted by the city council. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

I just have a question. So the reimbursement, do they do they bill you once a month for work that's done or bring you the invoice? They go out, we inspect, make sure it's done and reimburse that work. Yeah, typically that that's what it does. Depends on the length of project. Sometime if it's a shorter project, you just get one invoice, but typically it's like a typical construction project. Yeah.

I just have comment. I'm glad we're doing this because when I first talked to you about this, I went out there and looked and for about a block and a half under the old plan, we'd have been swerving back and forth and that would have been ridiculous. This way the roads done and we can at least get to and from places on Fulton Avenue. You're not waiting 20 years for the next piece to get developed to do it. I'm glad we're doing it because for the community it makes a whole lot of sense.

Well, and that transition from Colony to Fulton that has been for quite a long time. That's a that's a tight turn with a curb and a lot of people miss it. So, yeah, I'm grateful we're doing this. You need a motion to approve this. The one thing I would just add, Lenar Holmes, who both Kelsey and Lauren are here, they've been great partners in going through and willing to to work with us on on doing this. So, we appreciate Lonar's partnership through this project. Well, thank you. Um, you ask for a motion. I'll make a motion we accept the recommendation from staff. Is there a second? Second.

I'm not letting you vote. There's not a not coming through. There we go. Oops. Looks better already. Yes. Looking nice. Okay. Have a tough decision. The tough decision. Yes. Um who who's got this one? Lisa. I'll do this one. All right. Um our next scheduled regular council meeting is on Veterans Day, November 11th. So, I'm just throwing out some ideas for the city council. Choose a different date um since that will be a holiday for the city. Monday the 10th. I will also throw out there Wednesday the 12th or Tuesday the 18th.

The 10th or the 12th or the 18th? 10th or the 18th? I don't They're all fine for me. 10th works. Does anybody have a problem with 10th? Let's do the 10th. Let Leo check his calendar once. Leo's busy. Yep. Good. I've got things I can be doing. No. All right. November. You need a motion for that? I'll make a motion. Yeah. Move the November meeting to Monday, November 10th.

Yeah. Put it on your calendar. Jane, give us lots of updates, please. All right, we will go into reports. Chief, Mr. Mayor, I have nothing to report. Good. Thank you. Got anything? Nothing. Ken, um, uh, we do have a few items uh, next Monday for the planning commission meeting. So, if you're sitting at home wondering what to do on that night, come join us. Thank you, James.

Yes. Two quick things, Mr. Mayor. Um, our water uses for September, we are at uh 14% lower than our 2013 numbers. Uh, 6% higher than our 2024 numbers. And then our annual brush pickup program does start tomorrow, runs through January 7th. Residents can place their brush out in the out in the street, but away from the curbs, please. We'll be making our rounds picking it up. Thanks for the reminder. Noticed a lot of people are planning ahead. Yeah, they're a little little. It's all right. I catch it the first round that way. I'm not one of those. Mr. Turstra,

my only report is that I am reconsidering my standard close session readout, but with that I have nothing else to report. Hey, you're fair. You You've been equal to everybody. Kevin, anything? Nothing. Mike Dean? Nothing. Leo, nothing. Oh, come on. Mr. Vice Mayor, Mr. Barton,

just a quick comment. wanted to um I just appreciate every meeting that we have an invocation from a number of uh our different uh leaders of churches in town. appreciated tonight's invocation from Pastor Van Dyk and recognizing a that we are grateful for the rain and uh as a farmer it definitely complicates things for the next several days but um we're familiar with that uh and just appreciate your words tonight and um and that we entrust everything I we do to our creator.

All right. Thank you. Um, try and keep this brief, but a month ago, we sat in this room and had a council meeting and we woke up the following day to the news that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. And it's still difficult to talk about for a lot of reasons, but um for one, the man stood for basically the the essential value of this country of freedom of speech and was killed for that. Um, and it's ironic because he was the one of very few people that would actually sit there and hand the person who he disagreed with the most the microphone and let them talk down to him, speak badly about him. And he typically uh responded with grace and with kindness. Um, and ultimately was killed for that. And as someone who probably agrees with about 98% of what the man said, um it's a little bit uh terrifying sometimes being in a position where you never know where crazy person is going to show up and um do harm to you. Um, I want to uh note that uh it was nice to see the president of the United States who probably would not have been elected had it not been for Charlie Kirk um gave him the highest civilian honor today on his birthday and presented it to his wife who will now raise her children without their father. It is uh pretty disgusting but also amazing to watch what the man was able to accomplish not only for this country in politics but as a Christian who brought um probably millions of people to know Christ. And I'm thankful for that. It has made me a better person, a better father, and a better leader. And if anything, it encourages me to share my faith. And I want to encourage anyone here who doesn't know Christ to attend

church, become a believer, and dedicate your life to Jesus. And with that, I want to thank you all for being here. And yeah, that's the end. Thank you.