City Council - Regular Meeting

There's a couple of seats up in the front. There's four actually. If anybody would like There's two in the front and two up here. If anybody would like to come up, if you'd like to make a public comment tonight, there are comment cards in the back table for anyone wishing to make public on any items on the agenda tonight or just general public comment. There are comment cards in the back and you can bring the comment cards back to me. Thank you. Oh, now it's on. I got it.

Yes.

All right, we are going to call this meeting to order. Vice Mayor, let us stand for the flag salute and remain standing. Thank you for our city, the city of Riverbank. 104 years Riverbank has been here. And we thank you, Lord, for those that went before us and the job that they had done to get us to the place we're at tonight. And then Lord, as we're gathering in these chambers today, it's our time, Lord, our our season to be good stewards with what you've given us. Lord, I just pray, Father, for our council, our mayor, Lord, the city staff, and all the residents that are here that tonight as we conduct business that we would have wisdom in how we approach the bench and the things we say. I pray father that at the end of the day that all of us would have the same desire to see the river city of riverbank be the best place to live in Stannis Los county and that we'll continue to be better together as we ask you for your help in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you. Roll call please. Council member here. Council member FSY here. Council member Call here. Vice Mayor Vice Mayor Pimementel here. Mayor Hernandez here.

All right. Um there are no agenda changes at this time. Any authority council authority member has a direct conflict of interest on any scheduled agenda item to be considered to declare their conflict at this time. Pursuant to government code section 84308 Lavine Act, any council authority member who has received a contribution of $500 or more within the preceding 12 months from a party, participant or their agent related to an item on the agenda must disclose that contribution on the record prior to participation in the discussion or decision on the item and may be required to recuse themselves as applicable. Any conflict of interest? All right, we have our presentation item 7.1 Sturgba update. Good evening, mayor and council. Tonight we have just a brief presentation on some recent conversations um had at the county level with regards to groundwater sustainability. Uh so I'll wait for my presentation to come up here. Uh so just a refresher for council and members of the public. Uh council did approve the following as part of the Sturba um the groundwater use management program which includes developing action plans that need to be implemented by January 2027 uh for those non-district east management areas and the well mitigation plan that will assist property owners whose water wells have experience experienced impacts uh due to declining water levels. Now, at that time, uh, Mayor Hernandez did request and council did approve the preparation of a memo that was distributed to the Sturgba board and to Santaas County that encouraged communication and collaboration in developing that action plan that ultimately will impact all of the agencies in the Modesto sub basin.

On that same night, um, the county board of supervisors also had their meeting. Um now the board of supervisors and the Stannis County is the steward for the non-district east management area. Um the board of supervisors also approved those same use uh groundwater use management program and now theirs included developing an action plan for the nondist east management area who must reduce their pumping by at least 48,900 acre feet and their will mitigation plan. Um, as I mentioned earlier, that's to assist property owners. In addition, uh, the Department of Environmental Resources shared at that point in time that they would be hiring a third-party consultant to develop that action plan and reviewing conflicting studies that currently exist regarding groundwater pumping and recharge. uh supervisors Condent and Wro will participate as part of continued discussions of the development of that action plan for non-district east. There is a desire to ensure that urban rateayers were not subsidizing the outofdist agricultural wells and that any cost recovery should align with the responsibility of impact. What does that mean? That means that if there are fees and to be paid um any fines or penalties for over extraction that it be the responsibility of that management area to handle those fines and that that not be a shared cost between all of the other management areas. Now, we do have representation on these continued discussion which is now being framed as an ad hoc committee. Um, so our representative on that is council

member C. Um, so she will be joining supervisors Condan and WRO at their first meeting on April 30th. Now on March 25th, there was a county water advisory committee discussion um on this topic as well. uh the department of environmental resources for the county presented to the committee regarding the actions of the county and the recent communication from stakeholders which included riverbank. This was the distribution of the memo. One of their slides uh reflected that they had approved um their well groundwater um use uh program on 127 and then the GSA approved that on 128. Um they were looking at equitable subbasin umwide approach and that the framework to allocate the sustainable yield to the management areas would be looking at something that is proportional based on the total land area or overlying area. They want to make an allocation that's simple, that accounts for dimminimous municipal users and recovery of developed supply, that gives more water to areas that need it the most, and that's respectful of water rights, and that's collaborative resource sharing. So this in my mind goes against their statements that Riverbank handles its own water and therefore has not been invited to be part of past conversations. Yet what they're presenting to other boards is the fact that we need something that's equitable on the subbasin as a whole, not specifically to that nondist east um management area which is having the overdraw. Uh in addition, some additional comments

made during that meeting is that Riverbank and Santaas County are each identified as stewards for the nondist west management area. Um, Department of Environmental Resources staff clarified that each steward is responsible for management and oversight of their jurisdictions, that the county does not oversee Riverbank, and it may seem we are co-stewards in the nondist west, but that we are not partnering to oversee the management area together. Um, and the county only oversees uh those county areas that are not within city limits. As I mentioned earlier, these statements appear to be in conflict with the desire to maintain a collaborative resource sharing um as part of the groundwater management plan. Uh one of the last comments made um one of the members commented that Riverbank, Modesto and Oakdale should also face extraction fees, not only the non-district east as we are also contributing to the decline in groundwater as it has a cumulative effect which makes this just as an important piece that we've been saying since the beginning that we want to make sure we are part of those discussions. On March 11th, there was a Sturba meeting um where they approved the agreement with self-help enterprises for implementation of that well mitigation program that everybody else adopted uh back in January. They also had an annual report which presented to the board um the fact that the eastern principal aquifer that's the one I'm going to focus on um 20% of 27% of the wells were below the minimum threshold. Now there's a an area um where if they're below the 33% uh threshold for at least three seasons

then they become of significant impact. Um but at this point in time it is at 27 which is fairly close to that 33% number. Um so that of course will continue to be monitored. Uh the board also received an update from Santaas County Department of Resources Environmental Resources. The presentation was similar to the presentation that the water advisory committee also received. Um and once again the county reiterated that the county does not oversee riverbank who is a steward for itself. Uh we do have a representative on Sturba that is uh Darren Smallen who's our public works superintendent and he reiterated to the Sturba board the city's desire to continue to be part of these conversations and once again shared uh the memo that came from the city council to the board. So future updates um ad hoc committee updates will come from council member call. Uh any pertinent sturba information as the nondist east action plan is developed will be shared and any pertinent water advisory committee information that affects riverbank will also be shared. Uh so we'll be monitoring all three committees um to ensure that we continue to keep council apprised. And that is all for my presentation tonight. you. All right, we are going to move on to public comment. At this time, members of the public may comment on any item not appearing on the agenda and when the within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council L board. Individual comments are going to be limited to maximum of three minutes and time cannot be yielded to another person. Under state law, matters presented during public comment cannot be discussed or acted upon.

Mayor, we have uh Francis Gavara here. And I want to make a note um there are quite a few of you and we want to hear everybody um that wants to make a public comment. So for that reason if we could keep any of the side conversations or sounds to a minimum we do appreciate it.

Hello everybody. Um I just wanted to make some uh announcements on behalf of the uh Riverbank Chamber of Commerce. U my name is Francis Gua. I'm actually a manager at Red Robin and one of the directors for the Riverbank Chamber of Commerce. We have a multimixer which is hosted by the Riverbank Chamber of Commerce on May 7th from 5:30 to 7:30. Our business member and host of Stannis Loss Veteran Foundation. The event location is the Stannis Loss Veteran Center at Coffee and Silvin near Walgreens. And we also have a workshop coming up on May 14th at the council chambers here on Third Street from 5:30 to 7:30. We're going we're going over tax preparation and requirements for small businesses and nonprofits. That'll be hosted by Darlene and Arlene of the TSW or the tax savvy women. We also have our Riverbank Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 6 from 12:00 to 1 at the Riverbank Industrial Comp complex. The mayor, council member, and public are always welcome to attend. We have our uh Riverbank Chamber of Commerce fundraiser to be held at Red Robin on Saturday, May 9th all day. So, please stop by and support our chamber to raise funds for community events like the Easter egg hunt and the youth of the year scholarships. We're also planning a ribbon cutting for the grand opening of Tractor Supply on Patterson near Dutch Brothers, probably a Saturday near the end of the month, and there'll be more details to follow. So, the last item, mayor, council members, city staff, and public, you're all invited to the ribbon cutting at Kinfolk located on Santa Fe and Third Street for their ribbon cutting on Wednesday, May 6 at 3 p.m. That's it. Thank you for your time. Uh, Duke Cooper.

Mayor, council members, I appreciate your time tonight. My name is Duke Cooper. I'm a 78-year-old honorably discharged Marine. I'm 100% disabled due to service connected injuries. After six years service, I was released honorably from the Marine Corps. because of those injuries and I could not uh further my enlistment time. Uh I am the founder and former CEO at American Veterans First here in Riverbank. I served six and a half years there as a volunteer. I'm very proud of our time there. We helped hundreds of veterans navigate the VA. We gave away electric mobility scooters. My team spent 72 days in Ukraine doing humanitarian work for the people of Ukraine, not the army or the government. We hauled mass casualty kits into Poland. We we bought a van there and we snuck into the country at night. We were not afforded the availability of weapons. So we went in totally un unarmed. We snuck six families out that were on a government hit list in the middle of the night. We went all the way up to Kev. We took mass casualty kits. We took feminine hygiene products. These people were stuck in tunnels. Terrible time. I'm currently involved in bringing honorably discharged green card veterans back to the United States uh that were instead of citizenship, they were deported minor crimes, not because we vet them out hard. If if they're uh been convicted of rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, or mass drug transportation, I'm sorry, we can't help you. So these these people, one, we we just recently lost him. He was in a park in El Paso, was drinking a beer, wasn't in the military, a beer, and having a joint. He was uh deported for 24 years. Today, the federal government wants to give our veterans psychedelics.

I really have a problem with that. Uh I am the 2017 Stannisol County Veteran of the Year. I'm the 2020 state assembly veteran of the year for my veteran advocacy. I've been recognized by several entities from Congressman Jeff Denim when he was here uh Chance Condent uh several other entities for my work as it I'm very proud of that. Uh I'm still uh I retired in 2023 uh due to service connected injuries. So I ask you to bear with me because I'm 14 days out right now from major back surgery and that's uh all service connected. I am starting a new group called American Veterans Voice. We're the voice of those veterans that don't know how to speak to the VA. We help them file their benefits. We help them get their get them off prescription drugs and get them back to living a normal life. Once you when you discharge in the military, I'm going to tell you, that's a scary time because you're told what to do, when to do, how to do. And I was very good at what I did, but they beat me up pretty good in the Marine Corps. Fractured neck. I had both knees replaced and I just uh April 14th had uh major back surgery. So early in 24 uh I received a call from city hall. I was honored to be called and participate in the Memorial Weekend or the Memorial Day celebration of raising the flag. I always brought uh a World War II veteran or a Korean a Korean War veteran with me. When I received this call, I was told that my services were not required. I said, "Really? Okay. It'd be nice if uh make sure you have a veteran do it. What about next year, your services will no longer be required. Unbeknownst to me, a month before that, an embezzlement charge had been filed against me with Riverbank Police Department by American Veterans First. I am so sorry to to cut

you off, but um could we follow up with you if could you leave information on your new organization and um we'll follow up with you afterwards. I really appreciate your service and I'm sorry we have a time limit. Okay. Yeah. The only thing I'm asking is that the Riverbank City of Action take action and kill the ugly rumor that has spread through Riverbank and the county. Uh I've been here 39 years. Uh, I know a lot of people because of that and I've had a lot of people come to me and suggest I address y'all. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Um, Melissa Sandal.

Yeah. You want to stand over there? I can I start or Yes, your time will start when you start speaking.

Okay. My name is Melissa and this is my father, Robert Sandaval. My father is now 68 years old and lived here on Rosel Avenue his whole life. Our family roots tie all throughout Stansel County and some even further. My grandfather was actually the one who built who helped built this house where we live at here in 1935. The point is, my father and I wasn't even aware of this meeting until my neighbor showed me a letter she received. Just like we weren't aware we were Riverbank until we didn't receive mail, my dad's injections couldn't be delivered. All because it was either lost or my address doesn't exist. Just like it still doesn't exist in emergency services where at times they have to ping our location just to see where we are located when an emergency or outage is reported. My question is for you, mayor. Why wasn't a letter sent to me about this meeting when this concerns the area where I am living? What happened to the investigation on Rosel and Clarabel widening project on the failed drain system? Where did my calls go every heavy downpour? Why aren't any of us on the same page? Why was I switched to Riverbank for Modesto and I wasn't notified, but yet people still celebrated? Why are you guys planning on building right across the street where I live when there hasn't been an active drain on Rosel and Clarabel since 2018? Because construction decided not to extend any of the pipelines when widening the roads. Instead of listening to us, they just built over a four-way stop intersection. Any road that was worked on in 2018 that connects to Rosel for the widening project needs to be investigated thoroughly because leaving residents to flood out purposely continue while continuing to do funding is wrong and it's a violation of our civil rights. Why do you guys only focus on good publicity saying you're for the people when we have been calling every heavy downpour at times in the highway on Clarabel digging our own way out as we're still calling some of you but instead some of you guys even took

pictures and bashed us publicly because of the way our property looked when we couldn't fix anything or even put something in the back because all you guys all of you guys waited until December of last year 2025 to fix the same pipelines you guys purposely destroyed and still fixing some of them leaving us with now we have no running water since December 2025. Why is it only certain people matter and we don't? Why do some of you in the city council have enough time to bash my father and I but don't have enough to document the failed draining system? Why do you guys abandon us at our weakest moment? Our family who works for the county already took everything from my dad and we literally have to dig our own way out and call for help every downpour as we got bashed and flooded knee deep. Nobody understands how heartbreaking it feels to watch new houses go up. Groundbreaking happened throughout the county. Family abandoning you. Officials turning the cor corridor project all in front of you while a new riverbank sister city sign is celebrated in the same ditch we flooded out at. We deserve a voice and answers just like everyone in this room does. That's what you guys are voted and elected in office for to represent the people, not just certain people. Thank you. Let's go. Michael Christie.

Good evening, mayor, council, and staff. Hope you guys are doing well. Um, I wanted to talk about tonight, a few weeks ago, the last meeting I brought up the idea of a splash pad at Silva Park. Then I see online that city of Lyre is opening up one shortly. Now the city of Oakdale is looking into it. So um I just wanted to uh talk about it tonight. I knew there'd be a lot of residents here from Crossroads area. And this was something um for those of you who don't know this was approved in 201 um 13 by the previous council and phase three would put a splash pad water feature for kids next to the restrooms at Silva Park. Um the infrastructure is there. If you're facing the restrooms, it would be right next to it on the flat grasslands. And um so I just thought it, you know, something that the council can follow up on. I'd love to have a meeting with council member Call um city manager and parks and recreation director if I can get maybe 15 minutes of their time um to figure out where um how much money does each park get. I see Castleberg Park, you know, it got a big revamp. I see things going on in Jacob Myers Park all the time, but I just wanted to see what the residents in Crossroads what um our options are because like I said, I think in 2015 they opened up phase two, the restrooms and the ping pong tables and the cover at Silva Park, but I haven't seen anything else really happen there since then. Um so any of the residents that'd like to contact me, you know, and uh speak speak up to the council and your um district representatives about it, that'd be great. Um, and then, um, lastly, I know, uh, there's a lot on the agenda tonight, and I know it's really hard for you council members. Um, but I I do want to say that in the fall of 2005, I got up here, I spoke. I was the only one that thought we needed public more public safety, more police officers. The council took me seriously. They listened. Um, they

worked. They worked together. And I think we've hired one officer since then. I think there's an opening for one more and there's also an opening for another CS community service officer. So I do know if you come out to these meetings and you speak up uh speak your feelings and you know don't attack them that speak speak to them respectfully um things can get done. So um thank you guys for your time. Mayor, that is all the uh public comment cards we got for general public comment. All right. Do you have a comment?

Yeah, go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon, uh, Burbing City Council and members of the city council. Mayor Hernandez. Uh my name is Alexis Chavez and I just came to give a a quick uh legislative update from the office of Senator Maria Alvado Gil. Um during the past two weeks um our team has moved six bills out of committee um SB um 1162 which is about wildfire m uh mitigation which passed the Senate natural resources and water and uh we're also uh working on SB 1293 uh it has to do with uh CALR and our our state highways in order for us to put more signs in the highways that uh uh read out messages to our commuters and uh people that drive our highways. And uh also SB 1334, which has to do up there with J59 and um SP 1382, which passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee, and also um SP 1397 with which has to do with human mountain lion conflict. I know sometimes uh we get mountain lions that that come down here from the river. So um and uh lastly uh the senator presented SB 1234 in Senate Judge Fury uh which had passed uh the the Senate Human Services and um uh also uh she was able to uh pass Senate resolution 89 which prounded uh autism day in the state of Cal in the state senate in California. And um today I held a mobile office hours here at the Riverbank Library which I was able to help a constituent with with unemployment case. So um we usually have those uh monthly or quarterly. So um if anybody needs any help with state services and um our team is looking forward to attending uh your of the state of the city on Thursday, Mayor. So we're looking

forward to hearing from you and the city and everybody seeing everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other public comment, general public comment or there's none online? Mayor, there is no one on Zoom wishing to speak. All right, we are going to move on to the consent calendar items 9.1 to 9.3. Any discussion or motion? So, I'll make a motion to approve the approve the consent calendar um as is. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Odbe. Yes. Council member FSY. Yes. Council member Call. Yes.

Vice Mayor Pimementel? Yes. Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Motion passes 5-0.

We are moving on to public hearing item 10.1. We have our six cycle housing element where we will consider the following. A resolution approving a general plan amendment to adopt the six cycle housing element and to authorize staff to submit the six cycle housing element to the state of California Department of Housing Community Development GPA012025. A resolution approving a general plan amendment of five properties from the industrial business park, mixed use, civic, community commercial, and lower density residential to higher density residential and mixed use. An introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending the crossroads community specific plan. SP1 to add the mixeduse uh designation and to reszone eight properties from light industrial neighborhood commercial public quasi public highway commercial neighborhood park basin and plan development to multiple family residential medium and highdensity residential and mixed use. A resol a res resolution to amend the general plan land use element to establish a maximum density for the higher density residential and mixeduse general plan land use designations and an introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending the Riverbank Municipal Code by amending sections 153.067 and 153.071 071 adding sections 153.166 through 153.169 entitled regional housing needs assessment overlay. Thank you, mayor, and good evening and good evening city council. Um with me tonight to do the presentation is David Nishkinan with JB Anderson Land Use Planning whose firmed help uh the city put this document together tonight. Thank you.

Thank you Josh. Members of the council, mayor, uh David Niskinan, JB Anderson, Lindy's planning. Uh we're pleased to uh present to you tonight the six cycle housing element and the associated implementation actions. Uh this is a process that has been over two years in the making when we first started on this project uh in the beginning of 2024 and it has uh extensive public outreach uh and input and over a year of review with the uh state department of housing and community development. Housing elements um are highly regulated by the state and there's been so many new laws and new housing legislation that's been passed by the state legislature that uh it's changing every single cycle. And this uh cycle has been been particularly difficult as it relates to uh the sites inventory in the arena as well as uh adhering to um uh housing element implementation and and housing element law in general. Tonight's presentation has multiple components. First, it's the uh presentation on the actual document itself, the six housing element uh for your consideration tonight for adoption and and authorization to submit to the state department of housing and comm community development or HCD for uh final certification and review. The other components include implement implementation actions from the housing element document itself. Um, normally these items would be completed uh following the adoption of the housing element over the course of the 8-year planning cycle uh with certain timing uh requirements depending on the uh exact program. However, state law mandates that these actions occur concurrently with the housing element adoption. So that's why the packet tonight is um quite large and and quite complicated quite frankly. Um the implementation

actions include sight specific reszones and general plan amendments and a specific plan amendment to the crossroads community specific plan to meet the city's uh arena obligations. A specific plan amendment to the crossroads community specific plan to add the mixed use designation that's part of the reszone program. a general plan amendment to the land use element to establish a maximum density and zoning ordinance amendments uh to the municipal code to implement state law related to byite uses religious institution sites and amend the mixeduse chapter which I'll go into detail in this uh presentation tonight just to provide a little bit of background and you've seen this slide before in other presentations that I've given to you the housing element is one of uh the required elements of the general plan it covers an 8-year planning cycle from June 30th, 2023 to December 31st, 2031. The previous housing element, which was for the fifth cycle, was adopted in February of 2026 and then certified by HCD shortly thereafter. So, up until this point, the city has enjoyed a certified housing element, which allows for the city to uh apply for grants and obtain uh funding for infrastructure projects and such. Um, but this housing element is for the sixth cycle. So, it kind of restarts over uh the 8-year planning cycle. Um, the housing element, unlike the other elements of the general plan, is reviewed extensively by the Department of Housing and Community Development for compliance with state law. And that's what uh we've been doing over the last uh year. And the housing element, just to kind of give you an idea, is a multi-year and multi-step process. It includes uh extensive public workshops, public outreach. Uh um also the site's inventories quite extensive to meet all of the site criteria and the requirements per state law. Uh there's a new requirement that's uh for the new

for the sixth cycle which is called affirmatively furthering fair housing and the creation of updated policies and programs that will lead the city into housing um development in the next eight years. These components are then consolidated into a draft housing element that ultimately gets uh reviewed by the public over a 30-day public re review period and then submitted to HCD for a draft review. Uh we are now at step five which is the formal adoption of the housing element. So we've gone through the preparation of the document, the public outreach, the review by HCD, and now we're we're at a point where we're ready to have a council take action on the document tonight. And then following action, if the council decides tonight to do so, uh we would submit to uh the state for certification, which is another 60day 60-day review uh for for the document. And as discussed in the staff report, uh we recently receive received a letter prior to planning commission that the document as drafted meets all statutory requirements of housing element law. So presumably if council elects to adopt the document tonight, we would expect that HCD would provide certification for the city. Uh

clarify the letter was from HCD directly. That's correct. Okay.

And it's um attached in this in the staff report as it relates to public participation. This these are all the dates that we've provided public the opportunity to um be involved. Uh we provided multiple presentations to planning commission and city council. Had a joint planning commission and city council workshop. Uh we also conducted an online survey and then did stakeholder interviews with um uh de housing developers, nonprofits, things like that. And then we provide pro provided uh updates to planning commission and council on kind of where we're at. There's also um an important component which is the review periods of the document itself. So, the public review draft was available for a 30-day public review back in October of 2024. We also um presented it to planning commission and city council for review and authorization to submit for to HCD. And then we've gone through four rounds of review with the state. And each of those times were required by state law to make the document available for public review for 7 days. Um, we've re received public comments on the document as kind of we go through this entire process and there's an actually an appendix in the document that lists all of the comments that we received with responses. So, we've take been very careful about making sure that we receive public comment and we we respond to it and adequately um both in revising the housing element per their comments as well as um addressing the comment and directing kind of them to know where those those uh issues are that they're discussing. Now, the housing elements made up of 10 chapters and this is all directed by state housing element law. Uh it includes um an introduction which talks about the public participation process what's required in the in the document all the way from and also the housing household and employment characteristics

the AFFH requirements which is uh extensive as well as housing production opportunities where we take a look at the sites inventory uh which I'll go into detail in the next couple of slides. The probably the most important and uh consequential part of the housing element is the uh requirement to identify available sites to accommodate the regional housing needs allocation. The tonal arena for the county is first developed by the state by HCD and is generally based on population growth uh historic population growth and then forecasting for the the planning cycle. The total arena is then provided to Stanco which then they um established a methodology for allocating the units across the local jurisdictions and the final arena plan was adopted by the policy board in August of 2022 and Riverbank is required to accommodate 3591 units across these income groups and that's uh detailed in the sites inventory on how we get to that point as well as um the assumptions we make as far as density calculations. ations for uh these income groups. And this table is the culmination of that review. It includes um the reena number uh which is the 3,591 as well as sites that were identified on vacant land underutilized land which basically means that there's additional land that could be developed or redeveloped over the planning period on that site. uh sites that are um potential accessory dwelling units that would be would be developed over the planning period. Um and pipeline projects which are projects that are approved but yet constructed. So we make sure we capture um projects that are uh underway or under construction or have been approved but not yet developed. And then we also look at the specific

plan areas including the downtown specific plan uh crossroads west um specific plan. And then we also uh there's a new Senate bill that allows for religious institution sites to develop residential units. So we're able to capture some of those units as part of the arena. And then finally, if there's in this review, if there's a shortfall, meaning that we don't meet the 3,591 units in a certain income group, um we have to look at potentially reszoning sites. And that's what we're bringing to you tonight, which I'll go over more specifically later on in my presentation. And the site selection criteria, you know, we're not working uh in a vacuum. Uh we're always looking at the state housing element law to direct us on how to select the sites. were also heavily scrutinized by HCD and the reviewer that's assigned to us on how the selection was occurred. How we make our uh density assumptions for each of the general plane lane use designations low density res residential, medium, high and then as well as mixed use. Um, so that includes and is not limited to whether the site's zoned for residential use or could be reszoned, available available to be developed within the planning cycle, access to amenities, analysis of environmental constraints, including easements, as well as meeting AFH requirements, and that it's appropriately sized. The important the important thing to note here is that the city is required to accommodate land that could be developed. The city is not a developer um is not these units are not required to be developed over the planning period. The city's requirement per state law is that need to make sure that there's enough land to accommodate these units over the planning period. Um so it's very important to make that distinction.

Uh David, quick question. jump back real quick. So the so the resone sites you have a 668 total. So that's uh out of the 35 acres for the lot square feet. How did you guys come up with Right. We don't have proposed projects on these sites. So how did you guys come up with We have 35 acres. We're going to get 668 out of that. How did you guys come up with that? It's based on the acreage of the site and then using what's called a default density of 20 dwelling units per acre.

Okay. And that's a a a default density is uh handed down by the state that says look your density for this area in the valley for highdensity residential sites is about 20 dwelling units per acre and you're able to use that number without having to provide additional detail or analysis if you're going to use a higher number. So if we were going to use something like 30 or 40 dwelling breaker, well, we have to back that up with um you know, real projects that have been developed in the past in this area and quite frankly um higher density residential sites within the valley um even at 20 dwellings per acre is is about what they do. Um you know, it's it's very rare that you'll find a a multif family site within the valley that will meet 30 dwelling per acre. Um and we've had discussions with companies like Groupy who who does multif family development um all throughout the valley. Uh we also in the document did a survey of um multif family sites that have been developed in Riverbank, Modesto, uh Lethre, Stockton and and average it out the densities and it's about 20. So

I'm assuming you're going to go into more depth as far as like the process for the sites that were um selected and then removed. I'm assuming that's in Okay. Yeah. So, these the maps that I'm going to be showing uh briefly are the sites that were selected. This is a map that shows the vacant parcels within the city. Uh this is a site that are all underutilized parcels. So, meaning that there's a potential for the site to be redeveloped or add additional units on the site. Uh and then these are the sites that are selected in the downtown specific plan uh that are really guided from that plan and the EIR associated with it. And then these are the sites that are within the Crossroads West specific plan. Um there is existing development as you know existing development that's out there that homes are being built. So we took uh the remaining lots within those subdivisions and then also looked at the specific plan to guide us on how many units would become available. And then these sites are uh the pending development sites. So these are sites that have existing um approved projects but not are not yet built. And then these are the housing sites that we've selected um over the course of the planning uh preparation of this document to to be reszoned. And uh I'll I'll have this slide uh later on the presentation where we go into how that those are selected. Uh a number of uh policies and programs have been updated for this housing element cycle. Uh there's new programs because there's new state law that we have to make sure we adhere to including code amendments uh and uh uses that are now required to be allowed uh across the state. Um these are just a few programs that I'd like to point out. First is program 1.1A which includes the um making sure the city maintains the arena numbers that have been presented as well as uh um complete the reszone program program as well as update the municipal

code to address uh mixed use um uses basically allowing 100% residential and mixed use as well as require a minimum residential percentage. Uh, program 1.1B is a a program for Crossroads West Pacific Plan to make sure that that project maintains their higher density sites. Um, not really too worried about their low density since they're developing right now. And then, um, program 1.1C is an update to the municipal code related to accessory dwelling units, uh, which will happen most likely during the planning period. So question for you on system development system development fees specifically for like ADU fees. Um is there is there a way for uh us as a council to ask staff to like prepare options

uh to kind of evaluate the fees to kind of uh maybe reduce those HCD HCD is always encouraging cities to remove the fee barriers. So I think this would be a good opportunity to to kind of do that. Fantastic opportunity. Yeah. And the the code amendments required because there's certain updates that have happened at the at the state level to that um state law for accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units that the city has to adhere to. So during that update that certainly could be the council's direction to staff. Absolutely. Okay.

Now this part of the presentation and what I'm going to go out from here are the additional actions that are being requested by um staff. um for city council to implement as part of the housing element. The first is the sight specific uh general plan general plan amendment and reszones. Um during our site inventory review uh we identified that there's a shortfall for the arena. So what's required at that point is to identify sites to reszone to make up that shortfall and we've identified um eight properties with a capacity of 668 units. Um this is again is the map of where those sites are located. Um the specifically the shortfall is 559 units but you want to make sure in this process that you're creating a little bit of buffer in case um some sites are developed at a lower density so there's some area of flexibility with the city per state law. Um the eight properties uh are shown on the map. Um as part of the selection of the sites um outreach was conducted with property owners in September including uh certified letters. We also had multiple phone calls as well as meetings with property owners uh with and the site quite frankly quite frankly has been modified multiple times because a property owner is not wanting to do a reasoning. We want to make sure that we um we adhere to that request. um specific to site number three which I suspect a lot of um of the public's here to discuss to discuss the Glow and uh Roselle site which is on the southwest corner um staff mailed a letter to the property owner which is Modesto Irrigation District uh on September 16th and then

also email communicated via email with MID um later that month because they had questions related to the existing use uh their question was related to whether or not the existing use can continue as it is today. And the answer in our email communication back with them is that yes, it can continue. The city's not requiring the site to be developed. Um if MID certainly wants to retain and not sell the site, that's their prerogative. Um the existing use can remain however long the site uh enjoys to be there until uh the property owner decides to develop. I have a question. Yes.

What is the implication or the problem if we decide not to have that property included?

Um, so there's a couple of options I guess available to the to the council. Um, I can go over that now or wait till the end of the presentation. But to answer your question briefly is that the council can direct this the staff to select an alternative site. At this point, since we've gone through uh the HCD review, we would have to amend the document again and send it back to HCD and essentially kind of triggering another round of review from from uh from the state and then ultimately come back through this adoption process with planning commission and council on that new document with an updated site or sites. So essentially it's a it's a multilevel process at this point for that for an alternative site to be selected.

Are there any penalties for doing that?

It's a matter of time since technically the speaking the housing element adoption is late. So the state's very keen on um making sure that this that cities have certified housing elements and there's certain um risks to not having a certified housing element including um the loss of eligibility for grant funding with CDBG grants specifically and other grants like the infill infrastructure grant program. Uh many of these grants require a certified housing element to be eligible for them and you know a good example of a CDBG grant is all the approvements done to Castleberg Park that was through a CDBG grant. Um there's a current grant on the underway for Pione improvements to Pioneer Park. Um the other risks um associated with not having a certified housing element includes um developers having the ability to do what's called a builder's remedy, meaning that they're able to submit a proposed development as long as they meet the criteria and the city cannot require um normal standards that would be required of that of that development including zoning standards, general plan standards. So developers are able to just kind of submit you know kind of whatever they want um at that point. Um there's other risks associated um including risk of lawsuits by the state. Um the state HD has much more um policing authority. they're able to direct issues related to housing elements to the state attorney's general's office and there's potential fines and penalties related to not having a certified housing element. So, it can be quite risky. Um, we've had constant communication with the state on the timing of u Riverbanks housing element and when we're going to planning commission, when we're going to council,

when we're going to be submitting it. So, they're they're very eager to get um Riverbank's uh housing elements certified. Um does that answer your question? Yes. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Um going back to the sight specific amendments, uh this table illustrates the the eight sites that were selected over the course of the planning preparation of the housing element document. Um, generally speaking, the sites are going to be going from industrial, mixed use, um, civic and community commercial and low density residential to mixed use or highdensity residential. Um, this allows, uh, user income arena that makes up that majority of that shortfall, all of that shortfall. Um, and so these are sites that were selected.

Uh, question for you. the civic property uh property owner, were they opposed to this reszone?

They just had questions and um no, they didn't they didn't voice specific opposition to the resoning. Another component of the sight specific journal plan amendments and reszones is to amend the crossroads community specific plan to do two things. One, we needed to update the land use concept map in the document as well as add the mixeduse designation to allow us to reszone sites to mixed use. The next component um in your packet tonight um as part of an implementation action of the housing element is the an amendment to the land use element to uh establish a maximum density. Uh the riverbank uh general plan was adopted in 2009 and for whatever reason I'm not exactly sure why the higher density and mixed use designations didn't include a maximum density. Uh this was identified during the preparation of the document and HD uh recommended that one be established to make sure there's a minimum and a maximum range. So, what is included in your packet tonight is a um modification of language in those designations to establish a maximum density of 40 dwelling units per acre. The next component is a zoning ordinance amendments. Um there's three components to the the changes to the municipal code that we're proposing. The first is a byite approval process per government code section 65583.2. The next is a byite approval process for religious institution sites per senate bill 4 and finally updates to the mixeduse CX1 district. This first one is a requ is required for sites that were identified in the previous cycle and the fifth cycle as well as the fourth cycle. And essentially what this means that if

a project includes at least 20% units affordable to lower income sites or lower income households, they're able to go through this buy allowance, meaning that they wouldn't have to go through a conditional use permit, planned development permit, or other discretionary permit. They'd go straight to building permit. We the staff still could require them to make sure or require them to provide enough adequate parking uh development standards such as um setbacks, height, limits uh and then objective standards as it relates to architecture. But this allows for um high density sites that include an affordability component to kind of skip through the process.

Then stop right there. Yes. So what would be the difference between the buy right other and the uh builder's remedy other than the fact that one is builder's remedy and the developers can just come in whereas the buy right I mean they both have that affordability option they both have bypass so really what's I mean they're both kind of risky except for one we have to do right

right they're they're similar the biggest distinction is that with this by approval approval process the city still can um enforce development standards as it relates to setbacks, landscaping, you know, those requirements. With the builder's remedy, they're able to go through and and basically propose what they want to propose. So, they can push the density, they can push height limits, they can push, you know, reductions in off- street parking, and the city doesn't have the the land use authority at that point to to require it. So, that's that's the biggest difference. So, so just to clarify, so even though we

Oh, yeah. I could just add Josh Finsky with your city attorney office. Uh, for the byite, it still has to comply with your general plan and zoning designations for your builder's remedy. It does not and it could be anywhere. They can bypass the 40 the 40 max cap, right? Correct. On the on the high densities, they can go up to 50, 60, doesn't matter. Now, on a builder meeting, right? They they preempt any general plan or zoning limitations, but both kind of give a pathway for affordable housing. Both have to be affordable projects. Yeah. Yep. Sorry, David. Uh there are a couple of presentations printed if anybody would like one uh in the back by the agendas.

That's okay. No worries. Okay. The next one, and I'm almost done. I promise. I know it's a long presentation. um is the by approval process for relig religious institution sites. Um it allows for if religious institution sites allow for affordable housing, it they can go right through the process the buy ride approval process. The last uh code amendment is related to um the mixeduse zone uh which uh we're proposing to amend to allow for 100% residential as well as require a um minimum percentage for residential in on those sites. Now, planning commission heard the item on um March 31st and during the public comment, a number of concerns were raised um specifically on the Rezone sites and and more specifically on the site on Rosel and Glow. Um in the staff report, we did our best to provide a summary of those concerns and a an adequate response. We also included all of the public comments that were received prior to and after planning commission as part of an attachment to the um staff report so council can see what the concerns were raised. Uh but essentially it boils down to a couple of items. First is the uh the compliance with state law with respect to how the site was selected uh including uh meeting the availability requirements net acreage. the hetche easement runs through the property. So that's a a cons a concern that was raised. Uh and the suit suitability for residential use. Um and then the other concern that concerns that were raised were regarding future traffic, high density zoning and public hearing notice and requirements. The response to those comments that were provided in the staff report as it relates to the site availability and uh

selection um you know it does meet the criteria for a site the site to be selected per state law was also reviewed by HCD through um multiple rounds of review. The site was selected actually very very early on uh to be a potential candidate for a reason site. Um so although yes there is um an easement running through the property, yes there is some site constraints um but the site still does meet the requirements to be selected. Um and also I'll add that you know this the site is available but it doesn't mean that it will develop over the planning period. you know, like I said before, the city's not in the business of actually developing the sites specifically. Um, it's, you know, providing the opportunity for those sites to be developed, but it's really all dependent on the property owner whether or not whether or not they actually want to develop the site.

Thinking about that hedgeh project, realistically, how many units could you fit on this? Well, in the housing element, we estimated that 104 units could be developed on the property. Um, and that's using the default density that's allowed to us by state law. So, why do we have the property listed in our housing plan when the likelihood of it being developed is low?

Well, you could make that argument for any site that's selected in the housing element. Um, and like I said, it's um, we're a we're the requirement is to select the sites, but it's the requirement is not to make sure they develop over the planning period. So even though yes, the likelihood is probably fairly low, it still can be it still can be selected for a site that can be used in the housing element. And there's no requirement in the housing development plan that it has to be developed there. It's just on the list.

That's correct. just on the list. I know it's a little frustrating because the arena numbers you you kind of see this big 3,591 number and it's it's almost like fantasy land. It's like how would the city even develop over actually develop those number of units over the planning period. Um but those are the sites there those are the numbers that were given to the city by the state as a as the number to meet to be able to accommodate not develop but just accommodate. Now one of the sites also is the one on Morell and Jackson. That's correct.

Is that one of the sites or not? Um, but I want to use that as an example of a location that's had its zoning changed, but yet we still do not see any building there. So, that's an example of how we can change the zones. Doesn't mean anything's going to happen. Just an example for our citizens. Yes, that was reszoned as part of the last housing element. And we did have a development proposal come through for an apartment complex there and went through planning commission and city council approval and we have not yet seen that develop at this point in time.

So after uh reviewing and considering all the public testimony the planning commission voted to um a number of actions and recommendations to council. First is to approve uh the six cycle housing element as well as the amendment to the general plan land use element as discussed and David sorry to cut up can you go back to I had a question at the end of that before you jumped uh to that slide go back so right there at the bottom yeah uh one of the one of the issues we keep hearing is future traffic uh with all development we won't know what the impact is until a project is presented correct okay that's correct thank you y

the second item that the coun that planning commission recommended council to take is the approval of the ordinance to amend the municipal code. And the third is the um voting to recommend council to take action on the uh general plan amendment reszones and specific plan amendments associated with the reszone sites that are select that were selected as it relates to environmental review. Um staff is recommending council uh uh take action that the site or that the um project is uh exempt from SQA as it relates to the common sense exemption as well as the public resources code 211080.085 which allows for the sight specific reasons to be exempt. Uh notice of this meeting was uh published in the riverbank news uh on April 1st. In addition, uh notice of this uh public hearing was also um mailed to property owners within 300 ft of all the reszone sites both on March 6th as well as another notice was provided uh on April 9th. And uh staff's recommendation tonight is um a number of actions associated with tonight's item. First is to uh adopt a resolution approving a general plan amendment to uh adopt the six cycle housing element and that uh approval also authorizes staff to submit the document to HCD for certification. The second is to adopt a resolution approving a general plan amendment of five properties from uh industrial, business park, mixed use, civic, community, commercial, low density res residential to higher density residential and mixed use. Also to introduce and conduct a first reading on our ordinance to amend the crossroads community specific plan and to add the mixeduse designation to that specific plan and to reszone eight

properties associated with implementing the housing element. Another is to adopt the resolution to amend the general plan land use element to establish a maximum density for higher density residential and mixed use general plan designations. And finally, to introduce and conduct a first reading of an ordinance amending the river rivermake municipal code uh associated with the um changes to the mixeduse uh district as well as to establish the uh regional housing needs overlay assessment uh um chapter and I'm available to answer any questions. Uh that concludes my presentation and thank you very much.

Thank you so much. And so we'll bring it to council and have some comments and questions and then uh we'll open it for a public hearing for comments. So did you want to

Mayor if I if I could add a couple comments before deliberation. Um I think David I think did a great job explaining all the facets facets of this. There are five items recommended for approval. Encourage the council to think of those items as very much tied together and that it's at this stage where we are at in the housing element process. it would be rather meaningless to adopt one without the others. So, please think of all these actions together. Um, as as you deliberate and consider how you'll vote. Uh, the other item is this housing element is for 2023 through 20 2031. We are behind schedule and David touched on it, but for for the residents to be aware and the council members, it gives staff no pleasure to bring something to the council where your discretion is limited and this is a state mandate. Uh but it is our obligation to inform you what what where we are at with the law and what the law requires and we're we are behind schedule. Uh and those penalties for not having a certified housing element and all the associated reasonzoning actions are severe. Uh with really having limited discretion if a very high density project comes in that we want a little more control over without a certified housing element. Uh we are restricted in what we can do there. Uh as an example I think I think you have a home or CDBG grant on your agenda tonight without a certified housing element. Those funds are at risk. Uh and then the state has certainly been more aggressive in starting to impose real financial penalties uh on the city for not having this. So uh this is not staff endorsing the state's wisdom and what it requires here. Uh but just so you have all the information and just for the residents to know what what the council has to consider here tonight. And uh just having been behind schedule already, these some of these penalties are already in effect just with us not

having a certified housing element. And then just to clarify, other funding that that it would affect is the PA PHA, which is funding, you know, partially the Sierra House as well. Correct. I'm I'm not familiar with that one, but it's not having a certified housing element. Post the funds at risk. So, it would impact funds that we were already allocated prior to today. Perhaps not if it's already been committed, but uh certainly at at the very least future future funds. But I don't I it could be at risk. I don't want to speak to that, but certainly future opportunities and those things that the city might apply for in the future at the very least.

So to to that point, we have been awarded, but I have received no contract for the fund. So yes, they could be at risk as well. Were there any other questions or cons from council before going to public comment?

So I got I got one. I'm going to throw it out there and see if see if it works. So, where' Dave go? David, you out there? Okay. So, as I was kind of thinking about the reszones and how some of these properties were kind of coming off really was the property owner saying, "I I I don't want to be on there." And then it was just, you know, just kind of crossing them off. So, out of the 35 acres, um, if we took out the MID civic property, uh, we would have to meet the shortfall divided by the 29.7474 acres. And you mentioned we're at a default of 20 units, we would still meet the shortfall. So, can we do that? It's a higher density. It's the default number. Can we do that? the site on

follow it's following all the guidelines. It's meeting the default 20 units. Well, the the site that's on Rozone and Glow is 5 acres. So, if you think about it as if we remove that site, we'd have to make a lot. So, the lot square foot of that is 231,34. So, I just took that one off, did the math, and it's 29.74 ac uh acres remaining of the seven lots. So, we would still meet the shortfall if we're if we're at the default 20 units like you stated earlier. I'm just just throwing that out there.

Okay. Maybe you can show me because I'm not exactly understanding, but um you know, anytime you need to remove or add it, it's the number of acres and the default density. So it's essentially if we remove that site, it would be 5 acres that we would need to make up somewhere else either by pushing the density somewhere else or adding additional sites. So if I kept the 35 acres, it'd be 17.1 units per acre. If we remove the civic lot, it'd be 29 the 29.74 divided by the shortfall. We're at 20.15 units, which meets which meets the default units. So I was just curious just off that if that would work or not. So just throwing it out there.

But if we were to do that, that would mean taking it back. So even having it go back to planning, which means we would be late. So So if we delay it, even with an option that would work, any kind of delay, my biggest fear is the is that builder's remedy part, right? So I I would hate to see a a more impactful project come in where we have zero control. That's my that would be my my biggest fear. plus all of the funding that we've been working on to to support like Sierra House and and everything else. Right. So that those are those are my biggest fears, right? And so even just a modification is is a no-go. Yeah. Well, my understanding,

even a modification would require this the housing element document to be revised and resent to the state for another 60-day review. So, but currently the housing element is already late and we've just shown to be a good steward and that that we're working towards completing the housing element. So, going back with this property off of it still puts us in a position where we are right now where we're working with HCD and we're telling them, hey, we're actively working on it. Give us 60 more days. We're going to exclude one property. Um, can you go to the table that you have on here? So my question would be what's the standard buffer because not that table. We'll keep going.

Oh,

because you had I think it was an 11% buffer. So what is the required buffer? Because we have a surplus of 389 units projected and the site on uh Glow and Rosella is 104. So wouldn't we be able to just leave it off and it put us at about a 9% buffer or 8% buffer? Not necessarily because where you need to look at is how that site's classified with the income group. So that site specifically, we're counting towards the very low and low income category. And if we remove that site, we would have a shortfall in those categories. Even though the overall we would still have technically a buffer, we would have a shortfall in the um very low and low. That's that's really what what it comes down to. So between the very low and low that's seven 69 units and then from my understanding so what are the how are we coming up with these projections for ADU for very low and low because if I'm in a helicopter I see 3,000 homes that could potentially have ADUs where we could put the remaining 40 units. So why couldn't we fluff the ADU number if I mean we have an 11% buffer buffer and a lot of this isn't really based on right

current trends. So why can't we do that? The ADU numbers are based on what's been approved in the past and projected out over the planning period for the city or the county.

For the city. Yes. For the city. So we took a look at look at the last number of years and then average it out and projected it over the the next eight years for the planning cycle. And that's the number of ADUs that we're projecting is at 40. Um, I mean there is an opportunity potentially to increase that number, but you have to um you have to keep in mind that those numbers are reviewed by the state and they're very very particular about projecting more than what um what is what is potentially could could happen over the planning cycle.

So I know part of the process that have has got us here is outreach. though in our HCD conversations, couldn't we say to reinforce the ADU number that the Santa that Santa County is offering free ADU plans? So, we plan to communicate that to residents in order to advertise the ADU part just to grab those 30 units per se. And that's a part that's a a program in the housing element actually to do just that to promote the free building building plans that are offered um with Riverbank and the other cities in the county uh that were developed over the last number of years.

So it's fair to say that we could probably put that in our housing element that we plan to grow the ADU. It's already in the housing. Yeah, it's it's already a program in the housing element to advertise for the ADUs as well as the the building plans that are offered for uh that are available. Yeah, this is strictly speaking the num the really the the kind of the brass tax numbers that were included in the arena that we can count towards the arena. Okay. So, did you I mean I just want to thank you. I know this this has been in the works since 2023, correct? Started in 2024, but or yeah.

Um and uh I the point is very noted the point of the process in which we're at at this point. Um so if um I'll pause here. I'll come back to council afterwards. Um but if we can move on to public comment, we're going to do that. So, this is a public hearing and we will open it up for public comment at this time. Uh, the first speaker is Melinda Torres.

Hello, city council. My name is Melinda Torres. Um, and I've been a resident for over 20 years. My home sits right behind the property being reszoned. Uh when this housing plan was first implemented, the city excluded from the inventory the sites that are planned for schools, parks, and other public uses. So now I'm concerned about what has happened since then. As of today, the city's general plan states, "The existing city of Riverbank general plan supports its vision of a small town where residents can live, work, and play locally. The city strives to preserve its strong sense of community, protect a agriculture, natural resources, and create a balance between housing and jobs. That's been written since 2009. It's been 17 years, and I must say citizens of the community still desire that for Riverbank and hopefully the departments and city council desires that too. Obviously, we have seen Riverbank's growth in just the past few years. The planning department seems to be on full speed ahead, but things need to be done with accountability. The reasonzoning of this property, we all know, is completely ridiculous and cannot accommodate that much housing. Higher density housing should be sitting on 26 acre land, not five. The reasonzoning is such a dramatic increase, it's almost made up. And if zoning can be changed this drastically, then it stops protecting residents altogether. It is also my understanding that this property may not ever see highdensity homes, but there's never a for sure anything as we sit here today and we are now have these fines coming at us. Um, so you never know. So if that's the case, you're submitting plans to the state that can potentially cause more issues that leave the citizens and next city

councils to deal with. Maybe lawsuits, more fines. Nothing is in writing for these potential properties. Who knows where this will be in five years. I love seeing the new growth in our neighborhood. I love what's happening downtown Riverbank and all the new shopping locations that are growing. But I don't want to end up a community where things are not being planned out and just thrown together. They need to be cautious about our city for the future. I still want our city to be a desirable city to live in and not pass through city that has no meaning. people will start to rent their homes and move away if this continues to happen. So, there are three things that are being done right now. Taking zoned land from our established community that's meant and planned for our community, potential penalties for non-compliance for our city, the lack of transparency and integrity of our city. I hope the planning department has a plan B. I am asking you to reject this reszone. Delay the decision until there's a real transparency and a plan that fits in our community. If this is approved, then zoning means nothing in the city and the residents are paying attention. And thank you so much. Thank you,

Michael Christie. Michael, I appreciate everybody being here and participating in the process. I will ask that we remain quiet between public comments so we can listen to everybody equally as as we're not sure who's going to say what in the comments. So, thank you very much. Mayor just doesn't want you to clap for me. That's it.

Sorry, mayor. Um, good evening, Michael Christie. I actually live at the opposite end of Crossroads, but my heart goes out to these families over in that area. Um, you know, there's so much so many other spots, so many other places we can maybe, you know, come together with this planning and the city as residents. You know, think of other places we can um develop at and reszone. Um, so I just I I know it's a long night for you guys, but I will say I've talked to almost 100 people in town that just would like to remove section three um the corner of Roso and Glow if there's any possibility of just amending it. Um I feel like we're already behind you know um other cities like Oakdale and Patterson aren't complying I guess they're willing to take the risks. Um so I just you know if we can just come some just some sort of compromise some sort of middle middle of the road you know um if we could just get rid of section three in that and um help you helps help the council members help the planning come up with some other ideas for other spots that'd be great. Um, in addition to the almost 100 people I've spoke to who don't want this section three, um, I believe there are over 725 signatures online. Um, and that neighbor verified signatures on the petition to stop this. So, I hope the council will take that into consideration. So, um, again, uh, just, you know, let us give us more time. You know, this didn't I don't think this came to planning meeting until March 31st. and give the residents more time to get involved and and to help us come to a better solution, a better location for this. Um, thank you very much,

Melanie Davidson. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. My name is Melanie Davidson. I live directly next to the property of the corner on the corner of Glow and Roselle. Um I know people are sharing the technical points already about this reszoning, but I want to share my personal um perspective on this um this section. So this pasture is something families experience every day. Kids stop to see those horses, cows, cattle. Um people walk by. It's in a neighborhood that you enjoy to walk through. Um, and it makes it's part of what makes this area feel like home to us. Um, I have a son. He loves seeing the animals. It's something that he looks forward to um, being around every day. Um, and it's something that we get to experience and share together as a family on a daily basis. It may u be something small to some people, but it's very meaningful to us and our family. Um, and once that section is gone, part of our neighborhood is gone with it. So, um, I hope that this is something that you all take into consideration when you make um, your decision. Thank you.

Mr. Jordan Davidson.

All righty. Well, good evening, Mayor and members of city council. Uh my name is Jordan Davidson and I'm a resident here tonight uh from Riverbank, California. Uh regarding the proposed resoning of the horse and cow pasture parcel 3 at the corner of Roselon Globe. My concern is whether the site truly meets the state's requirements of being realistically available and suitable for development. I'm not concerned really about it being suitable for development. I think they've already kind of pointed that out, but it's realistically available. MID has already stated that it's not willing or it's going to keep the same zoning. They're not doing anything. Does that mean that it's going to be realistically available for housing? If not, then we're not really planning to meet all of our housing needs for the area. Um, and then by definition, a site should be or have a reasonable likelihood of development within the planning period. Uh, based on the city's own responses, the property is expected to remain in agriculture use with no defined timeline for sale or development. The property owner, like I said, has um not intended any or has not stated any intent to sell or develop that land. And the site is subject to outside agency constraints that have not be been fully evaluated. I know I had seen an email uh from the San Francisco Public Utility Commission that said that yeah, you could move forward, but there's going to be multiple levels of review that need to be happened before they even consider building anything there. if that's the case and is it really been planned out? I know he's saying there's 140 units. Is that 140 units that are going to be able to go and take is is that being is that being specked in to go and be built underneath those power lines and over or over the current corridors that are being serviced right now by HCH? Uh I don't think so. Uh we are also relying on an environmental analysis from 1997 that was deemed for civic land use, not highdensity housing. I know he's asking

you to go and turn a blind eye to that and use common sense. I don't think that's common sense. Um, beyond the technical concerns, this pasture represents something meaningful to our community. It is something that families enjoy every day, a place for where kids stop and feed the horses and cattle, and something that contributes to the character of our neighborhood. Also, more than 700 residents have already signed a petition regarding this issue, which reflects a strong and growing level of concern in our community. This is not about opposing housing. It is about whether this site is specifically appropriate, feasible, and ready to be used. Because if this site is not truly available or constrained in a way that limits development, then including it does not solve the housing requirement that has been set forth from us by the state. It simply shifts the problem forward that future city councils and future uh residents of our beautiful town are going to have to deal with. Once the space and then once the space is gone, it's gone and we do not get it back. Um, I know I have 10 seconds left, but I do also want to say that we had we should have started this in 2023. This not should this should not have been something that was done in 2024 and now being pushed to us as it's being late and we have to make a decision now based on a 60-day uh lead time for us to be able to get another decision on this. Thank you,

Katherine Davidson. I guess all the Davidsons are here tonight. So, I'm Katherine Davidson. I pretty much have lived here my entire life. My son does live next door to the property. My family members have rented the property or lease the property from MID pretty much my whole life since the 80s. So, obviously, we've seen crossroads come in. I'm not we're not against, you know, new houses, whatnot, but for that property, when you're saying there are five acres available, there are not five acres available because the hedgeh um easement runs right through it. So, basically, you can take that five acres and divide it in half. And so, how are you going to put over a 100 units on that property plus cars? Like, even if each unit has maybe one car, where are you going to put a hundred cars? I I can't even fathom that. Um, so I just want you guys to please consider taking that property off the your list. And like I said, I know there are other properties available in this town that are eyes in this community that yes, could be developed on, but that property has been well taken care of. There are people who walk through that neighborhood on a daily basis, including my own grandson. When he's only a year and a half old, but he knows who Bod is. when he's upset, we're like, "Where's Bodie?" And he's looking around for the cows and the horses. And it's not just my grandson. I've been going there since I was a kid to feed the horses. So, please reconsider and take that property off. It is part of our community. When you drive down Roselle, it makes us look like we still are a little bit of country left in Riverbank. So, please reconsider. Thank you,

Mayor. That is all the comment cards I received on item 10.1. And uh Okay. Is there any other public comment in person? If you could come up and state your name.

Good evening, mayor, uh city council members. My name is Luis Mahia. I live in the Crossroads neighborhood. I'd like to share a personal story. Uh I lived there for about 15 years now. And about two years ago, uh, my house was broken into. So October of 2024, uh, our house was broken into. Luckily, my daughters were not home. And, um, it was it was traumatic. I mean, they came into my home. Um, this proposed uh, highdensity place, it's going to back up to Sorenson uh, walking path, which goes right behind my home. um this is just going to add uh density which with that amount of people you're just at risk. Um the corner of the walking path um you guys can see it from if you drive down um the main road there uh it gets graffitied quite often and you'll see my neighbor he he paints over it but it's it still happens. Um, you know, the the police officers here, they do a great job, but there's not enough of them and they just can't be everywhere at once. So, this is happening now. Um, my neighbors will look out for each other. But, uh, a couple weeks ago, we had people going through the neighborhood door checking, make, uh, trying to get into cars to take things. Uh, so it's happening now as we speak. So, I would urge you, please reconsider this. do not place this high density project in our backyard because it's just going to lead to um just just more of these issues. We're trying to manage as is. Uh it is just something that we don't need. Please look elsewhere. Uh if you look on the map, there's there's some areas that that look vacant that maybe the city could explore, but uh I urge you please uh help us keep our

neighborhood uh safe. Uh we look out for one another and we just don't need this extra challenge. Thank you. There any other public comment person? Please.

Good evening, mayor and and members of the city council. Um, my name is Erica Hyrick and I've been living in Riverbank for 20 years. And about 5 years ago, there was a property that opened up for sale in the court that backs up to the property on Rosel and Glow. And we decided to move there from the house that was more in town in the Crossroads community because it gave us the feel of still feeling like we're in the country. Our kids are now married, but at the time we walked to the um to the horse pasture. Our kids fed the horses every day. They nicknamed the horse polkadotti. And that's what we did. And now I have friends that have kids that are five and six in the community that are now walking to the same pasture enjoying their time with their children doing the same thing. And um like have previously been mentioned, it kind of represents still the fill of being out in the country, which is why we sold our home on the corner of like Squire Wells to move out into that side of the crossroads community just cuz we felt like we were a little bit more in the country. And so um asking you to take that property off the off the list. Thank you.

There's another public comment. Hello, my name's Raphael Torres. I live in Riverbank. My house backs up to that uh that pasture. So, I just want to question uh has any city been fined yet by the state of California? My understanding is no. So, if you guys can ask that question to the gentleman behind me, has anybody been fined yet? And like u Miss McCall said, if we show that we're trying to do uh we're working towards it, will we be fined? Can we ask for an extension without any fines? I know everybody's worried about the fines, but let's let's ask those questions. Has anybody ever been fined? Has can we show that we're working towards it and not risk being fined? So, those are questions I would like for you guys to ask. Thank you.

Thank you. Is any other public comment? anything online. Hello, council. My name is Jeremiah. I leased a property from uh mid and uh I just I talked to somebody yesterday from MID and they have no plans on selling the property and I was told that it being a government agency another government agency cannot come in and reszone another agency's property. So I don't know if you guys want to put all your eggs in one basket because MID I don't think they want to sell that. So, if you guys are going to do what you want to do, but I don't know, my I love seeing my kids get out of the house in the evening and get them out of the house. And I know there's tons of kids and strollers and walking with their parents every day, every day to feed those animals. And I think that's a huge part of um the neighborhood. And uh I just don't I don't understand why Riverbank would go after MID's property if they have no intention of selling it. So, um, but yeah, that's all. Thanks.

Was there anything online? Mayor, there is no one on Zoom. Yes,

Mayor Council. Um, my wife and I have been married for um, was it five, six years now? Seven years. Um, anyway, I'm a little nervous. Y'all can laugh at me. It's okay. But anyway, um, my wife and I were blessed to purchase a lot right there on that on that court. Um, and it was right directly across from the pasture. And, uh, Jeremiah and his family, they've been taking care of that property for a long time since we've lived there. And, um, it was actually a big reason why we picked that lot. And we were really blessed as a young couple to be able to build a house there and live there. Um, we're the where the White House, the big old cacti. We really stand out. Um, but when we heard this was happening, it really was concerning. Um, I I get what you guys are doing and I understand that you guys have your job to do and I know it's hard and it's hard for everybody. Um, but that specific property is really special to a lot of people in this room and we all wish in our heart that we hope and pray that you guys really reject this. Nothing against you guys. I know you guys and the state's doing their thing and it's really hard. Um, but it would take away the charm of this town. You know, a lot of people have said this town still has a little country in it. A lot of people enjoy that. You know, there's not many city folk in here. And if there is, that's okay. You know, but, you know, there's a lot of country folk in here that we we still like that feeling. And, um, it's just imagine a lot of people. And if housing were to go up and I I I'm starting to understand how it's impossible, um, it would just cause a lot of issues and a lot of heart hearts would be broken.

And I know you guys are scared of the state with the I don't know much about that with the fines and stuff, but Raphael had a good question about that. That that's actually some good information to ask to find out. But as a riverbank resident, I'm willing to bet and risk my chances because that property is very special and I don't ever want to see houses go up on it. Thank you. Could you give your name for the record, please? My name is Jaden Web. Thank you. Yeah. Are there any other public comments?

Wasn't planning to speak, but hello. Um, I want to stand and just behind what uh, Boise, Mr. Davidson, Boise State said, your name.

My name is Jill Magana. I've been in the neighborhood for 21 years. I live on Sulki Court. Um, I too love the pasture. My kids are 25 to 15 and I've taken family photos in the pasture with the horses. And, um, I want to stand though behind what he said. If we are here tonight to provide affordable housing for citizens, but we're going to keep re you're re repeating that this lot would never probably be built in on. So then are we really here tonight to provide affordable housing? That's I mean that that's the message he sent. Um I don't want the lot built on. I love my neighborhood. I don't want. Where's the overflow parking gonna go?

I have six kids. It can't. We have a bunch of cars. Where is the overflow parking going to go? Where are the kids that are living in the apartments going to play? I there's a lot to take into consideration and we citizens shouldn't sacrifice because of mismanagement of the planning department. Um, and that is how I feel that it oh well citizens because we're going to get fined. Cindy FSY asked a question and she said, "Will there be a penalty if we take it back to the drawing board to remove that property?" It was a yes or no question. I don't think you answered it. I think he gave plenty of things that might happen if we prolong it, but he didn't actually answer your question. Is there a penalty if we take it back to the drawing board? Thank you.

Thank you. Is there any other public comment? I'm not very articulate at all. My name is Sandy Van Fleet. Um, but what is 60 days to put it off? 60 days for all of these families. It just doesn't seem like that's that big a deal to wait, take it off, get it reapproved without it. 60 days isn't that long. I don't think I don't understand why this many people plus whatever left, it's not that big a deal. 60 days.

Thank you. Is there any other public comment?

Air council. Uh my name is Byron Cox. I've been on Black Sand Cool Water for 21 years when I come out here. And I brought it to you you guys attention before about the Airbnb. Okay. Now you guys want to build a p build some uh complexes on the end right there where all these kids is having fun and doing what they need to do. Have you guys considered you got when they build stuff like that you got pedophiles they going they going to put them in stuff like that there you got criminals going to come to this way these people kids is not going to be able to enjoy that no more. You're going to get more crime. So, you might as well get a police department sitting here called Riverbank Police Department because once you build that and start building around here, it's going to be a problem. A real problem. It's going to come. Soon as you build that, it's going to be here. These kids, they gonna have no fun. I see a lot of kids, like they said, a lot of kids goes over there and they feed the animals. You're going to take that away, people. Now you got people coming in. Like I told this this guy, this gentleman here, John, they're coming in from different cities and they buying houses out here and they making them Airbnb and they going back to what they got. My neighbor here right now behind me, the Airbnb, they causing problems. They throw parties on the weekend. I got to get up and go to work 3:00 in the morning. That is not going to happen. That's not going to happen here. Okay. So now you want to build something else to distract the kids. You got a lot of pedophiles out here and they coming. When you build lowinccome pedophiles is going to be on their way because they have nowhere else to put them at. Put their ass by the water somewhere. Not where a city where little kids is at and abuse these kids. The kids is most important. These people here got to live. They almost going in the grave. These kids got to come up and you got to raise these kids. You going to bring pedophiles. You going to bring criminals here to mess these kids up and scare these kids out of the neighborhood. Now they starting a couple houses around by

me. People started selling. They said they don't want to live here no more because Riverbank is coming as a just a city. Sir, if we can refrain from using foul language.

Okay. I'm sorry. Well, it's becoming a city where just people just run through there. It's a racetrack. It's a sideshow. You guys want that? These don't want these kids out here. Me and my neighbor talking about putting up speed bumps because they come by the house at 100 miles an hour. These kids run out in the streets. Okay. And the other person say about the crime. The crime. We had a couple kids walking down the street walking up in people's gate. Okay. I got signs in my yard now say protected. It what it say is is I I can't put it right now, but I I remember what it said. It's like it's like what I'm saying is a sign saying, you know, beware of owner. And to walk in my house, these kids are just knocking on people's door. They went knocking on people's ringing people's door bells to run up in people's house. Okay, these kids come in my house. You know what else is going to happen? And now we got kids. There's You want to put up a pastor right there? What thing there? I know I got to go, but it's You should not do that.

Thank you. Is there any other public comment? Okay, I am going to close public comment and come back to council for more uh questions andor comments to go first. So there was questions about uh planning department. So I kind of wanted to touch on that and ask about the number of highdensity parcels since the sixth cycle began. um how many have been newly reszoned to high density existing? So what sort of planning has went into achieving these numbers prior to today? Because they asked the planning question and then also the feeling rushed statement about we're they feel like we're rushing um to just reszone and get this established even though I know it's been we've been working on it for a while. um how many properties have we reszoneed to high density or general plan amendments to accommodate um the number because we received 10% of the housing allocation from the county which put us I think it was third on the list third most so in my I would imagine that in 2022 2021 when conversations were coming up about the housing element planning was doing some things to prepare for this um instead of rushing to reszone. And I know we have a fairly new planning department, so it may not be a very uh quick to answer question, but I'm just curious what sort of preparation the planning department has done coming into the sixth cycle to prepare for uh this large number. So to answer your question, council member call, in the fifth cycle, which was the previous planning period, there was a resone program for one property. I believe it was about 2 and 1/2 acres,

and that met the fifth cycle arena. what's become a challenge uh with the six cycle and this wasn't really known until the reena plan was adopted by the policy board in late 2022 which really kicked off the preparation of the housing ament although riverbank um truth be told didn't start that process until about a year later is that the six cycle arena um doubled in number from the state um and like I said during the presentation that number was given to each uh council of governments and then filtered out to the jur the jurisdictions. Burbank was given a number of 3,591 to accommodate over the planning period. So as far as how the city can prepare um the city has adopted general plan and associated zoning ordinance which includes a zoning map. So, there's a number of properties that are already um zoned and have general plane lane use designation of higher density or mixed use that are captured in the document as either being uh vacant, underutilized, or within a specific plan area like Crossroads West Pacific Plan. Um the city doesn't necessarily is not proactive in that way to reszone properties ahead of the analysis because we really don't know um the amount of acreage that needs to be reszoned until the analysis is is complete. And that analysis was done as part of the preparation of this document um including all of the the potential sites within all of the different in categories as well as the um split up amongst the different income categories. So to answer your question, no, there wasn't a lot of preparation as part of

having a sites reszoned ahead of the document because we just didn't know how many we really needed until until this point or until the housing element was prepared. And I'd like to also, you know, talk about and and discuss that the site inventory was done as part of the preparation which was the majority of of that 2024 time frame. So the majority of the sites that are on the reszone list have been through the review from the state from the first public review in 2024 into 2025 as well as through the different cycles of review with the state. um specifically four different rounds of review through 2025. So, you know, I understand, you know, the the public comments. I understand, you know, the um hesitancy to reszone properties. It's not a fun thing to do. Um it's not uh something that we strive to accomplish as part of the you know preparation of the document but there is a you know arena obligation that the city is required to adhere to as part of the um state housing element law. Um unfortunately the number for riverbank is higher than it than really it's ever been through the previous cycles of housing element law. Um and um you know through that analysis we identified that there would be a shortfall. Now there are a couple of options available to the council tonight knowing that the site number three is um held in such high regard and that there could potential be um opportunities to look at other sites. So, first one of the options that council can take action on is to direct staff to find an alternative site. That would direct staff to go through a number of steps. First is to physically revise the

housing element to remove the site. Um, also we'd have to find an alternative site to to reszone, which would include additional public outreach. and then we'd have to um revise the document itself and then send it back to HCD after a 7-day public review period. Um the 7-day public review period is required by state law which uh allows the public to take a look and see to confirm that the site has in fact been removed and then the alternative sites have been selected. Once HCD has reviewed it, which is that 60-day review period that I spoke about, if everything is okay, they would issue another letter similar to the one that's in your packet stating that the housing element meets all statutory requirements. At that point, we would go back to planning commission and city council through the public hearing process, renotice uh in the paper as well as the the property owner notification for the reszone sites. And then once council adopts the document, we would send it back to the state for certification. The other option that's available to the council in in my opinion is that you know we move forward with the draft that's currently um in front of council. We allow for that certification to happen so that we meet all the state requirements. But after certification, we go in and amend the document to find an alternative site and then to um potentially bring this the site number three back to the its original zoning and and GP designation. So that's another option. It would still follow the same process and protocol of revising the document, sending it back to the state, going back through the hearing process, but we would be we would be doing it in a fashion that we're we're coming going from a certified document. Now, if council elects to um select that first option,

we would need to notify the state to let them know that council has made the decision to not adopt the housing element and to direct staff to find an alternative site to make up the difference. Um and we would need to give them an updated timeline. Whether or not they would um you know pursue penalties uh like was discussed earlier, not exactly sure. Um I know other jurisdictions like Oakdale and Patterson still do not have certified housing elements. So potentially there is time to to do that but um I leave it up to council to decide tonight whether or not to to go down that path.

So the question was has anyone been fined uh to your knowledge? I would say in the state of California overall because I know there's other jurisdictions that are not in compliance and then also um within the valley area has there been other jurisdictions uh fined for not having a compliant housing element within the valley and and surrounding jurisdiction to my knowledge no actually in the in the greater California I that's a good question I do not know specifically if any jurisdictions have been fined actually Josh can answer that question

in the I do not believe so in the state. Yes, there have been a handful of examples, not many. Uh and there's normally been some procedure involved of after consultation, after notices, after they initiate suit. Uh however, um right, we're we're putting our crystal ball putting our hat on of predicting what the state will do. We don't really want to do that. We just we want to inform you what the state is empowered to do. So that's one of their mechanisms. and fines are not the only one, right? There's the builder's remedy as well and then their grant options. So, they have this host of enforcement mechanisms. Um, we were not talking about these enforcement mechanisms at the last cycle. So, one reason the sample size is small is because all these housing requirements and all these new enforcement tools uh are new and that the state has designed these uh for cities who uh are opposed to housing element certification. So that's one reason why the sample size is small and there's but there are some examples of those fines acrewing. Whether that would happen immediately, we don't we don't really want to predict too much but unlikely but but certainly possible and that's they're empowered to do that.

What grants? So we talk about grants. I know CDBG uh the home the PHLA. What other um the infill grant I heard that one. Uh what other grants are we at stake of losing by not certifying the housing element?

Not necessarily at stake of losing, just at stake of not being able to apply. So, for example, the infrastructure infill um grant, which is something that one of the developments um the Lucky House development was looking at applying for in order to help them bring infrastructure in to their development, which of course is able uh because it is a grant, they would be able to keep their costs low um for their construction. And it doesn't require the city to be a partner in that application. They can go do it all on their own. But yet because it's located within the city of Riverbank, it would still potentially be impacted. But as far as guaranteed funding like the CDBG home, PHLA since 2023, we're only missing out on 1.2 million over three and a half years. What kind of money is at risk when it comes to the other grants?

It just depends on the amount that they're looking to apply for. So it could be a couple million. I know one of the grants um does allow up to like a $5 million cap. So that could be a potential there. But those aren't city direct grants. Correct. Those are not city direct, but they would still look at the city to make sure they're compliant.

And I think not only is it the real cost that we would be missing out on, but it's the indirect costs of again the potential of the builder's remedy, etc. for us to I mean really lose control of how we want to we're we're here today talking about how the city's being developed. I mean we're at risk of losing that control completely. Um should we not move on with the housing element and that's just one one comment. I want to share more of what I'm thinking but go ahead. One of the drawbacks, let's say, of being a city council member is that you have to make decisions that are hard. But we alo also have to make decisions that are for the whole city. Um 800 signatures or 700 signatures was 0.03% of the population of Riverbank. So you see how hard it is for me. It's my district that this is in. I have to think of the whole city of my whole district doing that. I look at if we don't have this housing housing element go through, we risk losing money and that's money on the table that we're counting on that we could count on in three years. This goes through 2020 2031. Secondly, I love the horses and cows. I don't want them to go away, but I don't feel like mid is going to go anywhere before 2031. They have this property, it's working well, they don't have any issues, they're not going to go away. So, the concerns are minimal. However, if we were to go and not move forward and go and find another property, there's a lot of costs involved. First of all, we have our consultant costs. Second of all, we have our

employee costs. There's a lot of costs involved in doing that. However, we could go ahead and approve it tonight and do an amendment at a later within a year, right? Could do an amendment within a year removing that. That still keeps it valid. That still keeps us able to use our housing element to get funding. Everybody talks about our budget. We we are lucky here in city of Riverbang, but we also rely on the state to give us budget, to give us monies. I don't want to risk that. And I don't mean to be rude. I'm You guys are as valuable to me and those horses are as valuable to everybody, but 0.03% of the population, I have to think, he has to think, the mayor has to think, we have to think of the whole city. Maybe on the east side in the state streets they want to apply for a grant for $20 million to help their sewer, but we can't do it because we didn't approve tonight. I understand this property is important and I understand that we don't want it to go away, but I don't think MID is going to make it go away soon and I think we have an opportunity to approve it and amend it afterwards. And I want to guarantee and I want to see it in the minutes that that will happen once the state approves it. I don't want it just talked about here. I want it in the actual minutes that we will move forward. Can't do that because then they'll know. Uh, the other thing is I'm sitting here and I looked up um possible fines and it says on here that um will face fines ranging from $10,000 to $100,000

per month. Now, he's talking 60 days, but that's just part of it. Have to find the property. We have to take it to open session. We have to take it and have the citizens vote on this. This has been out there since 2024. So, do we really want to do that? So, I'm going to go opposite of kind of what was just said. So, I've been on the council for about seven and a half years and kind of trying to figure out this whole arena. So, David, thank you for sitting with me last week and walking me through this whole uh process. the last cycle the number was half of this number and so we didn't meet that number but so the state wants to double the number so all the all of this stuff just doesn't make sense and then so we're dealing with state mandates and this and that um so I'm kind of looking at the the big picture here state of California neighboring cities here you know I I I want to believe that HCD has a shed of humanity to kind of continue to work with us right so I I do have a motion that we'll be removing site ite number three and continuing to work with HCD uh and then bringing this back. So, because we don't know, so we approve this now. We don't know what the state will or will not allow us, right? So, let's just do it now. Um, so that's where I'll be. I don't know if I can make the motion. I don't know if we have more comments there, but that that's that will be the motion I'll be making.

Um, I just want to add, I mean, there another example of a decision we made um to um go a different route with with housing was on the corner of Jackson and Patterson. I mean, we had similar um public outreach come out and let us know that they needed a park in that area. Um and we as a council decided to move ahead with that rather than um housing. And so um to everyone's point, it it's you know any parcel has um similar sentiment uh across the city. So it is it is all very important and frankly I want to avoid the politics. I mean, I'll say that um we've seen at the state level um more uh a heavier fist come down on cities and I have no idea what's going to happen in the next administration in just a few months and um I'm not sure I trust it. Um and so to make a decision that's going to uh potentially risk us not having the local control that that we want is not something that I want to risk. Um, and and believe it or not, by saying I want to avoid the politics, I want to move forward with the housing me element as is, but I want you all to hold us accountable and to come back and we'll get a a strict timeline on when that would happen to come back and talk about an alternative site because whether or not you do come back, we are going to or I want to explore that option. It sounds like others on the council do too. Um so so again approving the housing element is our way of maintaining control. Um all concerns we've mentioned with traffic noise um public noticing are still would still happen regardless of any developer wanting to come to the city. Um I don't want to sit here and say something that's going to satisfy you in the moment. I I want to look

longterm and how to preserve the local control here in the city. Um because someone mentioned earlier, I mean, you never know what's going to happen and I want us to maintain as much control as possible through this process. Um I'll leave it at that. Did you want to mention something?

So on the track of uh maintaining local control. I personally refuse to uh relinquish that control at the stake of state grants. Um, I represent district 4 and this property happens to fall in district 4 and the people who voted for me want to leave this property off of the housing element. So, for me personally, I would like to see us go back uh to HD HCD without this property on there. Um, I know that our infill properties are slim. Um, but I'm confident with the skill level of our planning department, we could talk to HCD, put together a plan, come back in 60 days, um, and maintain that local control in doing so. So, that will uh, that's that's where I stand.

Thank you. Um, I just have a quick question. Um, should we go down the route of changing it before appro approving and certifying? Are we already Did someone mention we're already incurring fees just so we have it all on the table? We're not fines. Fees fines. Yeah. As long as we don't have a certified housing element, we're at risk. But we have not received any formal fines yet. Thank you. So, I would like to make a motion to remove site number three, find an alternate site location, and continue working with HCD. Second, roll call, please. Council member Oribe,

yes. Council member Py, no. Council member Claw, yes. Vice Mayor Pimementel, yes. Mayor Hernandez, I'm abs. Motion passes 31. Thank you. All right, thank you everybody. We've encouraged you to stay connected and um engaged with us. All right, so we are on to new business 11.1, a resolution to accept the 2025 uh housing element and general plan annual progress report.

Good evening. Theresa McDonald, senior planner, here to present the 2025 housing element in general plan annual progress report. So the department of housing and community development or ACD requires an annual report on the housing element implementation and the governor's office of land use and climate innovation or LCI requires an annual report to monitor the implementation of the general plan policies, goals, and actions. The fifth cycle housing element was certified by HCD on December 30th, 2015 and then adopted by the city council on February 23rd, 2016 for the planning period ending in 2023. And the city is currently implementing and updating planning efforts consistent with the six cycle housing element period which spans from 2023 to 2031. So the forms that need to be submitted to HCD include information such as the progress in meeting the arena numbers, the number of housing development applications received, number of units approved, list of sites reszone to accommodate the city's arena, and the number of units issued in entitlement building permit or certificate of occupancy. In 2025, a total of 88 units were issued building permits by the building permits division, which included applications from previous years, and a total of 58 units were issued certificates of occupancy, and additional 58 units were issued planning entitlements. The 2005 to 2025 general plan was adopted on April 22nd, 2009, and includes implementation measures and strategies for each element. The 2025 annual report provides a summary of the implementation activity completed during the final year of the planning period and acknowledges the need for a future comprehensive general plan update. Some notable projects include an

approval of two reszones to create a total of 58 single family residential units, the Riverbank Wine and Cheese Festival, and completion of four solar projects for city facilities. The complete progress report may be found as attachment two of the report. In accordance with SECA, no SQA no environmental review is necessary for this item because the annual progress report is not considered a project under SQA. To conclude, staff recommends the city council approve a resolution to accept the 2025 housing element and general plan annual progress report and authorize staff to submit the report to the department department of housing and community development and the governor's office of land use and climate innovation. That concludes my presentation. Any questions?

Thank you. Are there any questions from council comments? Any questions or comments from the public? car. It's under new business, right? Thank you. Yeah. Yes. We'll bring it back. We still do public comment. Okay. Any nothing online? Um, mayor, there is no one on Zoom wishing to speak. Thank you. All right. We'll bring it back to council for consideration. I make a motion we approve uh item 11.1. I'll second it. Roll call, please. Council member Odbe. Yes. Council member FY. Yes. Council member Call. Yes. Vice Mayor Pimento? Yes. Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you.

Item 11.2, a resolution of concurrence with the Sansaw Urban County and Stansaw's home consortium annual action plan for fiscal year 2627 and supportive submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mayor and Council Leticia Karata from the housing division will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor, city council members and staff. My name is Leti. Ibanz and I work for the um in the housing division and I'm here to uh to present the uh this year uh fiscal year 2627 annual action plan for the Stannis Loss County Consortium and um urban county. Okay. So um the annual action plan for fiscal year 2627 with the stansas county urban county and stansas home consortium uh on the slide we'll see that I can't see with with these glass on the slide we'll see that sauce county urban consist of the cities shown on this slide.

Could I ask you to pause real quick? It looks like we're having some movement. Thank you. Sorry. Go ahead.

Thank you. Um, well, we this slide shows the cities that uh participate in the Sansas urban county and the Sansas Hung. So, a little bit about oops, sorry, a little bit about the background. Um the county receives annual um annual funding from HUD and these funds support the housing and community developments activities. The proposed projects are designed to enhance the neighborhood conditions while supporting low uh income residents. These efforts are districally aligned with the priorities outlined in the consolidated plan. The county receives um an annual allocation of funds for the community development activities in here in the United States and the department of housing and urban uh development. There are funding activities that align with the consolidated plans and goals. These funds are used to create strong and sustainable inclusive commun communities and affordable housing for the regional approach. Stannis Los uh urban county which is the CDBG community development block ground block grant and ESG the emergency solutions grant and the Santaas home consortium which um the funds come from the home home investment partnership program which also includes the city of Charlock. So the Santaas county uh works collaborately with the cities throughout the urban county. So together we receive federal funds from HUD and these include

the CDBG, ESG and home funds and the goal is to address housing infrastructure and community needs across the region. So what is the action plan? as illustrated here on the slide. Number one, it is it's it's a requirement from HUD and this is something that we have to do annually. And the annual action plan also provides us to pro uh to present these um the the projects that we're going to be using or uh working on. and it identifies how the federal funds are being used and the f and it focuses on housing and community needs. Part of this annual action plan is for the is part of the 29 fiscal year 25 through 2029 consolidated plan. So on this side we'll see the in HUD uh entitlement requirements. So the consolidated plan is it's completed it's it plans out 3 to 5 years. It also has the analysis impediments to fair housing which is 3 to 5 years and the action plan we do this we complete this annually and the consolidated annual performance evaluation report which we call the per is um it's also done annually. So um the department of housing and urban development HUD it requires us to uh the it requires the preparation of several planning documents which include the consulted the ones that I just named here the consolidated plan the annual action plan and the caper and and these

help us to ensure transparency transparency and accountability. The consolidated plan's priorities. The the consolidated plan identifies key priorities for funding and these priorities include improving infrastructure, supporting affordable housing, providing essential services. And these priorities help us guide our projects selection for each year. So what's the purpose of the action plan? So as I mentioned with the action plan, we list out our projects and it helps with the with the with the community and the infrastructure and and various activities. So for the purposes we have proposed projects in line with in with that was included in the caper and they're also included in the action plan and uh and it also has a CDBG ESG funding recommendations. It the action plan also distributes funds sum uh on a summary. So it's geographical through and population and property rate. The opportunity for citizen participation started on April 8th of 2026. It was a 30-day uh review to for May 8th, 2026. The plan includes uh proposed projects. It also identifies funding recommendations. It outlines the geographic distribution. It provides opportunity for public participation.

And um and as I mentioned, that comment period was from April 8th to May to May 8th. It was a 30-day process. the planning process for the annual auction plan from 2020 from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 2029. It was the consolidated plan that was a five-year plan and it identified it the community needs the spending priorities for CDBG home and ESG. it um and then the program for the annual action plan it shows the allocation funding amounts for each spec specified activities. The second program year action plan which is uh the 2627 it's due to HUD in May of 2026 and allocates fund for a period of from July 1st through June 30th 2027. And here are the um HUD entitlements allocations. Uh as you can see on the slide, CDBG received 2,32,998. ESG was 202398. Home received 1,191557.79 which came out to the total of all 3,696973.979. This is the CDBG and EIG allocation for uh this fiscal year 2627. And uh for the city of Riverbank, we received 177,663.12.

Well, the community block grant um meets the national object objectives, which is to benefit low to moderate income um uh areas and uh communities. It it also helps prevent slums to or brightite communities housing and it also addresses the urgent needs to the community needs. So CDBG is used um it's a wide range of community development needs for home uh it's used to create affordable housing to create affordable housing opportunities for low-income families and the emergency solution grant which is the ESG it is used to address homeless homelessness. So the community block grant slide here uh for fiscal to 2627 projects proposed for funding um in riverbank we have noted that we are still working on the waterline replacement project that's the one that's out there by the pioneer park in the LA in the back and then we also have uh we're also working with a project at the Pioneer Park Improvements and that's um and we just re the NEPA form has already been sent over to to county. So, we're hoping to get that signed, the final signatures, so we can start working on the next step, which would be for the engineering part. And then we have the Texas a uh Texas Avenue and sewer improvements that's over in the area of uh the state streets. So, that we haven't started anything on that yet as we're trying to um work off the the two the water line project and the uh Pioneer Park improvements. A quick question. Can do you ballpark about how much is left in each of those

projects? Um the amount not off hand because we received allocations like um on on a yearly basis and I know that the water the waterline replacement project it's um it it we had it allocated for like 771,000. So um but I can give I'll be I can give you those numbers. I just didn't bring them with me today. Thank you.

Uh for the community block grant for um for the fiscal year funding recommendations, it uh it prioritizes the funding and as you as noted up on the slide, the 172,000 was was uh given to the weak care program and the weare substance abuse counseling treatment program for the public services. uh the ESG the the amounts the for for the center of human services the housing stability project it was awarded the 33,534 the children's crisis center the guardian house it was awarded 35,000 the children's crisis center for marshes and shelter it was awarded another 35,000 and the healthy awareness to violent environments which is the legal program was awarded the 35,000 which total The communication of all turned out to be 345,534. the ESG um as uh as I mentioned here earlier it's uh for the shelter services which includes the shelter operations and the essential services homeless prevention uh for the rent and utilities assistant for families and individuals at the immediate danger of homelessness and the rapid rehousing uh provides short-term rent and utility assistance to the homeless persons uh pursuing with the ESG the F uh the fiscal year for the 2627 funding recommendations the ESG solution grant uh for center for human services the low barrier shelter it was awarded the 60,546 uh also for Haven the emergency shelter 45,714 the community housing and shelter services for rapid rehousing uh was

80,959 and uh 15,79,000 15,79 was for county administration for those funds which came out to a total of 202 398 for the home um investment partnership program. The home eligibility activities the funds um those funds may be used for a variety of affordable housing activities that generally fall into four categories. One of the rehab rehabilitation of the owner occupied housing, assistance to home buyers, um acquisition, rehab and construction to federal housing and tenant based rental housing. Here is the uh home allocation. Um the the note states that these funds will be allocated to individual cons consortium members and must be committed to an approved project within 6 months of of July 1st of each program year unless the deadline is extended by the by the county. An approved project is one that has been included in the HUD approved annual action plan authorized by the county and has been and has completed a required environmental review process. If a consortium member does not have the approved project within this time frame, the funds will be made available to the consortium members throughout the county administered request by uh an administration of request of uh what we called an RFP process. And the city of Rurbank was allocated 97,66 for the 2025 affordable rental housing. um for the RFP award funding

the this uh Stanos regional houses um forgot that last one assessment it was for Park Ridge housing authority

a housing authority u park um park street cottages I'm sorry I um it was the development site was with four units and develop on an additional eight units I'm sorry I'm just not real familiar with these ones because to handle the the ones for the CDBJR project for city of Riverbank. And then um the Valley Manor was the rehabilitation of 48 units and also the Abby the property on Abby Street acquire site with four uh units and develop additional five. And then here's concluded my my slides. So um if any if anybody have any questions I will try to answer them.

No thank you. I know you're you're summarizing countywide. I appreciate that. Um, are there any questions from council comments? I don't think do we have any public comment questions? Anything online? Mayor, there is no one on the motion to speak. I'll bring it back to council. So, I'll make a motion to approve item 11.2. Second. Roll call, please. Council member, yes. Council member FSY. Yes. Council member Call. Yes. Vice Mayor Pimementel. Yes. Mayor Hernandez. Yes. Motion passes 5-0. All right. Thank you. Thank you. You have a good evening.

Thank you so much. We're going to take a 5m minute recess. We'll be back at 8:31.

Um we are on item 11.3 a resolution approving the reappoint of CI Dillard and Sarah Malo to the parks and recreation advisory committee.

Good evening mayor and council. Wait for PowerPoint presentation to come up. Uh so I am here today to discuss the reappoint uh two uh members on our parks recreation advisory committee. Uh to provide a little bit of history on May uh 2024, the city council approved the formation of a parks recreation advisory committee. Uh this committee consists of five committee members appointed to provide input and perspective to the parks recreation department. Uh to ensure continuity and maintain a quorum, the city council established staggering terms with the committee members. So every year we're always going to have a seats available for reappointment or to to fill. So what's happening right now? Uh May 2026, two seats on the committee will be available to be filled. Uh we as staff has have communicated with those that are that have the current seats if they would like to be reappointed or end their term on the committee. Uh Sarah Malo uh has expressed interest on serving a three-year term. She's currently on the parks and recreation advisory committee. Karina Roma who's also on the committee indicated that she is no longer she doesn't want to seek reappointment. So that will give us a um a seat to fill. Additionally, uh CB deal alert who's also a member. Uh her term expired in May 2025. So last year um last year she we reached out to her. She expressed interest on serving a three-year term. However, her reappoint was not formally taken back to city council for um reappoint.

Are reappointments supposed to come to city council? Was that in the bylaw? Uh they are not it's not in the bylaws that they have to be here at city council. It's in the bylaws that they have to attend the parks and recreation advisory committee meetings. Um which they have been attending. Okay. So just kind of curious why what so why is it bringing why is it coming now? Just kind of curious. Uh just for clarification it is it is in the bylaws. It is in the bylaws that the mayor and the council will appoint the I think you understood that if they have to physically be here. Yes. I I understood that that that the committee members had to be here. So my Yeah. They have to come to the city council for reappoint. Not physically. Not physically.

So staff has a recommendation uh for the city council consider the approve to approve the appointment of CB Dillard and Sarah Malo to the park parks recreation advisory committee. Sabb Dillard's term be retroactive from May 1st, 2025 through April 30th, 2028 as a three-year term. Sarah Malo's term will commence May 1st, 2026 and conclude on April 30th, 2029. Um, and so any questions that council has, I'm here to help. Thank you. Any questions from council comments?

And just kind of as a side note, uh, we do bring it to council and we do bring it under new business because council does have the option of not reappointing and then opening up for additional applications to be received to and be considered. Make a motion we approve 11.3. Do we need to do public comment? No, just as a Oh, I did. I mean, but do we have anything online? I know we're rushing through it. Everyone's tired. Sorry, just for clarific. But there is none on Zoom. Okay. And I don't Is there any Michael? Anthony any I'll clap at the end for you.

All right. I will come back. What's happening? Oh, I make a motion that we approve 11.3 and I'll second it. Roll call, please. Council member Reebe, yes. Council member FSY, yes. Council member Call, yes. Vice Mayor Pimentel, yes. Mayor Hernandez, yes. Motion passes 5 Z. Thank you, Michael. Um, we are moving on to 11.4, a resolution accepting incorporating the recommendations of City River classification and compensation study prepared by Evergreen Solutions LLC. Mayor and Council, your assistant city manager will present the next three items. Actually,

good evening, mayor and council. So, um, tonight before you is the acceptance and incorporation of the recommendations of the city of Riverbank classification and compensation study prepared by Evergreen Solutions. So, um, tonight we're going to ask you to receive the presentation of the results of the citywide study, review the key findings regarding internal equity, market competitiveness, and classification structure. Um, and just I'm going to skip a slide here. Um, a little bit of background. So, we retained um, Evergreen Solutions in July of 2025 to conduct the study. Um the comprehensive review was to review our classification structure, our compensation benefits, do market comparisons, and then gather employee feedback. Um the benefits from the adoption of the study are it will support our recruitment and retention, promote fairness and transparency, and provides long-term fiscal sustainability. Um so with that um our consultant Stacy Witchell is online with us and um she is going to go over the classification study, present it and give you guys an expo explanation of how these numbers were established. So with that I can we'll hand it over to you Stacy.

All right. Uh thank you everybody. Uh my name is Stacy Witchell. I'm a project manager with Evergreen Solutions. Um thanks for having me back. uh looking forward to walking through the presentation with you. Um if you've got questions along the way, please um feel free to ask um or I can catch questions at the end as well. So with that, we'll move on to the next slide. Just a brief agenda slide here. We'll touch on the study goals, remind everybody what the goals were when we started, walk through the project phases, discuss the internal review, external, and then bring all that together into the recommendations. So your study goals uh first to review the compensation classification system that you have in place at the beginning of the study. You want to review that to identify any areas of concern, compression issues, uh internal equity. We want to make sure that at the end of the study um that we can ensure internal equity. Um you want to survey the peer organizations because you want to ensure external equity. And then at the third one there, you want to provide recommendations for a system that addresses both internal needs and is also aligned with the market to make sure that you are competing within your labor market. On the project phases, they look like nice distinct phases here, but there's a fair bit of overlap and feedback loops that go into this. But we'll start out with project initiation. Uh that's the data collection. That's the kickoff meeting. Uh kickoff meeting, data collection. It's the time that we have to kind of really go through and understand what you have in place right now. Um leads me into the internal review. That is what we call formally that assessment of current conditions. Um that's when we look at the strengths and weaknesses of your plan, where people are placed, how they progress, um internal equity issues, uh the classifications that you have right now, how you're using them. Um we also conduct employee outreach during this phase. Uh came on site, spent a few days there and did focus groups. Um and then

we also did a survey um to all the employees uh to give them an opportunity to engage in that manner also. And then it's also our job assessments which is that online tool that we use to ask ask people about their job you know more so than what's just on a job description to really kind of give us much more insight into what they do. Um external review um salary survey and a benefit survey. And then all that comes in together. We run a regression analysis and help to inform the recommendations. Um, that's going to be updates to classification system, your plan, your titles, your levels, how you're using them, your compensation plan, any updates there to be competitive again within your market. Um, and then system administration overall. So, for that assessment of current conditions, um, looking at what you have in place right now, you had three pay plans or three groups, we'll say. So you had um two that were represented um and then one contracted um I kind of called it contractor/directors that kind of executive uh leadership team there. Uh your pay plans had a lot of paygrades in them um separate separated by about 1% between each grade. So um a lot there was around 100 grades per plan. Uh so that um early on give us some insight into you know let's find a plan that's a little bit more transparent easier to administer um and better for people to understand how they move through the system. You had over 40 classification you're using right now um within your kind of classification library and you had 64 employees at the beginning of the study and your average tenure is actually uh 10.4 4 years and uh while I was listening to that the meeting here in your earlier discussion I was doing some other little data research for a different project and and found that really nationwide the average tenure for most public sector organizations especially postcoid is about 7 and 1/2 years. So it kind of gives you an idea where you are with

your average tenure with your employees. Um people tend to come to work there and um a lot of them build their careers. So well well done. Uh again with internal review here we're going to take a look at employees minimum to maximum. This gives us an idea of where people are within the range of your current payra system. Um so we've got a a small number small percentage there that are currently at the minimums. That's generally going to represent your your newly hired employees at the time we um started the study. um the number that are at maximum, those are the folks that have progressed all the way through their ranges and along with their promotions over time. And then within range, that's where the majority of your people are. Um again, because there is opportunities for your folks to grow within their career fields or even lateral into other areas within the system. So a large percentage as you can see there of your total number of employees are within the range of their current payrades. uh looking at actual versus projected salaries. Uh now this is a little bit um we'll call it skewed a little bit but just because you have a very narrow range system u but very typical to what we see in California where the um the pay ranges which is a distance from minimum to maximum of any given pay grade is relatively um narrow. It's 20 to 25% typically by most um organizations out there. um on this side of the Mississippi um you know we see them much larger but within your system you guys have a very typical system within your area within your labor market and even with that you'll notice that um that largest um group of folks there 26 are where you would expect them to be given the structure of your system. Um you got a few folks in that navy blue that are 5 to 10% above and then greater than 10%. uh that is

primarily going to reflect people that have been hired on with um good relevant external experience and so you're valuing that when you bring them in. Um or sometimes there may be a few positions where the market just demanded you bringing them in above a minimum step. So very few people are less than what um the models would predict them to be based on tenure with your organization. So, a wrap up here of your assessment here with current conditions. Um, again, three pay plans. Across those pay plans, there's 240 plus pay grades. Um, five steps uh for each of those different plans. And like I said earlier, you've only got 1% between each of your grades. So, that allows for very little differentiation between pay grade, you know, 101 to 102 to 103. Uh, they're very similar. um classification system is generally very sound. Um we did recognize opportunities to um do a few updates to reflect some roles and responsibilities. Uh employee salaries did typically progress as expected within the city plan. So we didn't see any concern there. Um did observe some slight salary compression again between those levels especially given that 1% between the grades um being pretty narrow. Um very minimal compression at all between supervisors though and their direct employees and employee outreach. This is when we came on site and met with all your employees and um gave gave an opportunity to share the things that they value, the things that they think are working well and then opportunities u maybe for some improvements or some some changes. So your perceived strengths according to your employees. Um job security and stability with the city. Um a lot of comments about being a a positive work environment. Um employees highly valued the employee benefits. Uh they highly valued the work life balance. And then most of your employees lived and were from that area.

Um so they really appreciated the convenient location and and short commute time. U perceived weaknesses. Uh didn't feel like they were necessarily competitive with the labor market. felt like some folks around you guys have made some adjustments more recently that u the city has just not been able to keep up with. Um there was a few areas career fields where they were really uh looking for some more growth opportunities. They all recognize that you're not a large city. You don't have 6,000 employees. Um but where possible, they did request some more room to grow in their careers. Um there was a lot of comments about needing additional staff support. A lot of folks felt like they were being stretched kind of thin in order to get the work done. U they felt like benefits are really good, highly valued them, but there was comments about prices increasing for benefits. Um, and again, these are all employee perceptions and the cost of benefits is I think is something everybody's struggling with right now. The summary of findings just across the board with employee outreach and this is from the survey that we um administered and the focus groups. Um, we always ask everybody, you know, give us your top three. This is always my last question of a focus group and this the last question of our survey too. You know, if the study could only focus on what three things, you know, what would your three priorities be? And this is really the things that rose to the top there. Um alignment of compensation, responsibility. Uh that's really the employees saying that they feel like maybe their their work, their role isn't valued appropriately within the pay grades. So they'd like to see that evaluation done. Um market competitive wages. U many felt the current compensation plan just was not competitive in that regional labor market and had not kept up with the cost of inflation. Uh staffing needs um again a lot of staff felt like um a staffing study was really needed. They felt like uh they were being stretched thin um in order to get the work done and um again requested some growth opportunities. So that was really the focus of the input that we got from folks across the board.

Part of our internal review also includes a job assessments. Um, y'all had, I think, except for one person that was on leave, if I remember right, everybody else participated in the job assessment tool. So, thank you very much for that. Um, I rarely get a 90 plus% completion um from from any of my projects. 60 and 70% is the norm. So, great job there. Thank you guys and thanks to your employees. Um, but what we found here when we look at the job assessment and that is administered to help us understand what the people are doing in their positions. So, not just what's on a written job description, but tell me what's not on the job description. You know, that way we can make sure that we're evaluating it fairly internally and externally. Um, overall though, we found the position hierarchy appeared to be appropriate uh for the current reporting structure that city has in place. Um through that assessment we did identify that there were some areas where um you could benefit some from from refinement of titles and levels. A water wastewater uh was in particular was one of the job families um that we really wanted to take a look at a bit deeper to reflect uh maybe some updated titles um and then a creation of a couple maybe uh positions to help fill a few gaps that you've got. Um and then job descriptions uh generally reflected employee positions. Um, we are finalizing those updates and we will have them to you this week. We'll use the information from the job assessment tool to provide uh recommended updates to your job descriptions. So, we'll be getting that back over to to Tammy and her team um in the next uh two days before Friday. Your public sector market peers looking at the external um this is where we went to your public sector peers. We use your benchmark or your classifications to compare what uh the pay ranges are at your peers. You know, how they're valuing these positions versus how you're valuing them. Um again, when we do these

matches, we don't do matches based off of job titles. We do them based off the functions and roles of the position. We build a survey. Um and we ask the peers to complete the survey based off the information provided um or to give us the information. We'll do the matches and and follow up if we have any questions. So they're not title matches. They're matches based on functional roles, responsibilities, and level in the organization. Based on all the data that we collected from the peers, we break that down in any number of ways. We look at market position across the entire organization. I break it into my job families. I look at it with a cost of living adjustment applied and look at it um without. Um I also look at it across the distribution of a bell curve. So what you're seeing in this graph is if I take all of the classifications that we reviewed um and looked at them just as a pure average no cost of living adjustments applied um you are at the minimum of your salaries um 3% behind the men 4.2% 2% behind the midpoint of your salaries and about 5% behind that final step, you know, step E there, um, of your pay grades of your salaries. If I apply a cost of living difference to make sure everything's valued at the dollar there locally within Riverbank, it shifts a little bit. And if I look at the 40th percentile there, and that's looking at, you know, just shy of that median curve on the bell curve. Um, there I'm looking at you're you're pretty much aligned at that point. you're 1% above at the minimum or step A. Um around step C, um you're pretty much lined up to market and at E, you fall about one to about 1.2%. Um so that tells me that's generally where you're aligning in your current market because if I look over at 50th percentile, you see it's very similar to what we see even if I don't adjust for cost of living in the average. Um at the minimum or step A of all of your pay grades, you're about 2.4% 4% behind,

3.3% behind at that midpoint. And again, at step E, you're about 4% behind to the maximums. Um, I did look at a slightly more aggressive position on that bell curve. So, that 60th percentile. Um, look there. And again, you'll see there it's your five, six, and 7% behind at the min, min, and max of your your current pay plans. And if you'll notice too, as you go from mid mid to max in every single one of them, you are kind of losing in your level of competitiveness in that market, um you have a few peers around you that have stretched out their their scales and they've added one one more step. Um so it's made them a little bit wider, increased that earning potential. Um so with that, um their maximums are a little bit higher than yours. So that's what you're seeing reflected in that kind of consistent drop from men to max. I did break it down by groups, too. Um, and keep in mind this is we were looking at this data here um after the interim adjustment to your plans were done. So, you already made a little bit of a change to catch up. Um, then with that, we're looking at from miscellaneous in that pay plan. Um, that's -2.6% behind at the minimum. Um, at the midpoint almost 4% behind, negative3.89, 89 and at the maximum almost 5% behind. Mid-management aligns decently well at that 50th percentile although it does fall from men to max. Um in contrast this group was the largest one that was behind. Um and some very far behind about 10 12 14%. Um but those positions were five five a little more almost 6% and a little over 6% behind at maximum just across all the classifications within the contract group. I mentioned earlier that we did also look at benefits and there's a summary of benefits um in that full report. Um but the first graph you're looking at here is your benefits percent of a total

compensation. So this is the question we ask all the peers you know what is the percentage if you take your total compensation which is benefits plus salaries you know what is that percentage that the city is paying in to help cover those benefits that makes up the total comp. And you'll see there in that darker green bar graph on the bottom that's um the city is putting in 36.2% and covering that much of the benefit cost for employees where your peers on average are at 27.2%. So on average you are contributing more than your other peers to help cover the benefits and provide those to your employees. Um other findings u for benefits um again you do contribute a higher percentage on average um compared to the peers. uh retirement and health there was some variation between peers however not significantly different than that peer average. Um your leave acral was very typical but the carryover amount of leave is less than your peers and certificates and other fringe benefits were comparable but they did lag a little bit in certain areas. So all of that will bring us to the recommendations. So that's when we take that internal data, the JAT, JAT analysis, the market findings, we run a regression to help inform these changes here. Um, so the first thing we're going to talk about is your classification system. And with your classification, like I mentioned before, you've got a pretty solid classification plan right now. There were a few areas where we recommended either a new classification um or a title update to reflect what the role is doing. Um so your meter technician one two series would be a new series um for for the water group water um side of the world over there to help um really hire the folks in that you need to really conduct that meter technician work that's required today um your recreation coordinators as we're recommending that turn into a recreation and events coordinator um the water distribution operator these

are all title updates if you see the ones in red um those are where we're recommending just a title update. Uh the green are those are your new classifications. So your other new ones here, senior accounting technician to give a series within that um accounting family. Uh human resources specialist, again we wanted to round out provide growth opportunities within that family and succession planning. Um and then for the rest of these here, a couple of other new ones. electrical system technician, um local redevelopment agency program manager, your admin analyst 3 would be a new classification, assistant city engineer and human resources manager, and then of course a city engineer. So these are all positions where we're recommending again um new ones um to round out the series succession planning provide growth where appropriate and then then the red ones with the two asterisks there those are the ones we're recommending for job title updates. So for the next one we're going to talk about annual reviews. Um what we're saying here is you're you want to conduct an annual review and update of job descriptions um and Fair Labor Standards Act FSA um on a regular basis to make sure that you're staying current um with your job descriptions with FLSA exemption statuses and job descriptions are always a challenge to keep up to date. It seems like we always have always have changes. Jobs are always evolving. Um but you will start off with a fresh new set here in in two days. compensation system. Maintain the three plans. I'm going to update the number of paygrades and the uh grade progression throughout here. Like I mentioned before, um you've got about 1% between each paygrade. So, as you look between 101 to 102 to 103 in the paygrades,

currently you only get 1% between each of those levels. Um we want to increase that a little bit and reduce the number of paygrades that you have. So, we want to have a keep your steps of five, your step increase 5%. So, between steps A, B, C, D, um, that's 5% between each step, just like you have right now. Your grade progression, we're going to take that from 1% to 2 and 12% between grades. Your range spread is going to stay consistent at 21.6%. And then we knocked off, Tammy, I think about 50 pay grades off of this pay plan. Um, and then gave you a a true plan that you can manage all your classifications in. um on a like leveled um basis. Um pay grades 129 and 30 right now. I don't believe we have anybody assigned to them right now. That's just for future growth. That's why the asterisk's there. Um the next one over here, mid management confidential. This is B paygrades your 200 series 2011 through 225. Again, we knocked off about 50 pay grades off this one as well. Um consistent in structure though with your other one. Um we wanted to keep that consistency that you have. So again number of steps is five. Your step increase between is 5% between each step. Grade progression so the distance between 2011 to 202 to 203 is 2.5% and a range spread of 21.6. And then the last group here is your contract group. Uh we want to update the number of pay grades here and the grade progression. So again uh slim this one up quite a bit. also uh cut off some some extra pay grades, went with a consistent structure, and this is where all of your senior leadership classifications are assigned. Uh recommendation four there is where we take all your different classifications and then we slot them all into all non-bargaining and bargaining. It should be both of them there. Apologize for that typo. Um wanted to have all those

positions assigned uh to their appropriate pay grade. So all that cross talk has been done. Um and then we walk everybody over from an employee basis onto their new pay grade onto their next step that they're they're on within the current system. And then if you do a consistent step placement where if they're on a step um three or or step C right now, you know, what would it cost to put them on step C in the new plan? Um we also did run a scenario um for what would it cost to advance everybody a a step next year. Um but looking at consistent step placement um we are looking at estimated implementation cost of $211,000. That is all 64 of the employees that we had in the data set and it's about 3.8% of your payroll overall. Um just a reminder keep that uh number in mind is a budgeting tool budgeting estimate. Um it is a snapshot in time and as we all know um employees come and go they get promoted um you hire new folks every day. So um it's a snapshot based on that that data set at that point in time. Um recommendation six, we want to conduct a small scale uh salary survey as needed um on a regular basis, especially it's hard to fill classifications areas where you've got retention issues or you just got a vac vacancy that stayed open for a long time. The market may have started to kind of drift away from you in certain targeted areas. If you're doing that on an annual check-in basis, um then you really only need a comprehensive one every 3 to 5 years. Uh then um recommendation eight, review and revise policies and practices moving employee salaries through the pay plans. Um do do those things on a regular basis. Uh you know our all of our policies and I say this after 30 years on the public sector side myself you all of our policies are only good as they are current and relevant. So just that reminder recommendations for next steps u complete the job description updates based on JAT data. Um and then River Bank obviously will have the opportunity

to review those updates internally and accept any edits or add any additional information as needed. Any questions? Thank you. Are there any questions from council comments? All right. Any public comment? Anything online? Mayor, there is no one online wishing to speak. All right. I'll bring it back to council.

I have a motion to accept 11.4 and I'll second it. More call, please. Council member, yes. Council member FSY, yes. Council member Call, yes. Vice Mayor Pimementel, yes. Mayor Hernandez, yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you, Stacy. Um, absolutely.

Item 11.5, uh, resolution approving the amendment to the memorandum of understanding between city riverbank and the riverbank miscellaneous employees bargaining unit and adopt updated salary schedule council. So the next two items are for two different bargaining groups. So I've prepared one slide to go over these amendments for both of these items. So um items 11.5 and six are forou amendments um based on your approval with item 11.4 these amendments are needed for to theus for the bargaining units. So the purpose of the amendments um are based on implementing results of the classification and compensation study to update the salary schedules, pay grades and classification assignments as identified within the study. These updates support our recruitment retention and equity. What is being approved? So amendment uh number one to our mid-management, amendment number two to excuse me number one to miscellaneous and then our updated salary schedules are in the exhibits and our classification and pay grade realignment. Key changes to both the units um is the updating of the salary schedules with an effective date of April 17th. um our classification updates and new classifications um revised paygrades based on the market and alignment with the adopted compensation framework. Um outlines of the implementation pro approach was kind of gone over with Stacy but implementation approach including placing employees at the step closest to their current salary. There are no reductions to base salaries,

adjustments made to maintain internal equity and consistent methodology across all groups. Salary administration um future step progression follows the existing. Um the city may establish some administrative guidelines as she was talking about how our progression um putting those guidelines in there so that we're ensuring our consistency and long-term stability sustainability. Sorry about that. So our fiscal our financial impact um our estimated implementation costs for the current fiscal year for miscellaneous employees is 19,370. For mid management it's 17,688 because it is only a partial year that's left. Um the annual cost for your miscellaneous employees um would be 77,478 and mid-management 70,750. Um so next steps are the council adopt the adoption of theou amendments implementation of the updated salary schedules and then staff will be responsible for ongoing administration and periodic review and any future updates would be done throughus. Um, so staff's recommendation is to approve amendment number one for both bargaining agreements and authorize the implementation of the updated compensation structure.

Any questions? Okay, so we'll take one at a time. So item 11.5 regarding the miscellaneous employees. Is there any comment or questions from council?

Just one real quick. How often will those periodic reviews happen? So, we basically recommend it is annually. What we what I would say is we're going to watch. If we're recruiting for a position and we're not getting applicants, it's definitely one that we're going to have to go out and review the market on those. Um, but something that we'll have to keep up on. Um, one every other year, every year we're going to have to evaluate that. But I think the true tell sign is going to be when we're recruiting and not getting applicants. Any other comments or questions? Make a motion we approve 11.5. Let me go out to public comment real quick. Public comment for this item.

Any online? Mayor, there is no one on Zoom wishing to speak. All right, we will entertain your motion. I make a motion we approve 11.5. I second. Roll call, please. Council member Odiva. Yes. Council member FSY. Yes. Council member call. Yes. Vice Mayor Pimementel. Yes. Mayor Hernandez. Yes. Motion passes 5-0. Item 11.6 of resolution approving the amendment to the memorandum of understanding between city riverbank and the riverbank mid management employee association and adopt an adop updated salary schedule which is presentation. Yeah, we already

the recommendation is the same as 11.5. Any public comment or online? Mayor, there is no one on Zoom wishing to speak on this item. Bring it to council if there's any questions, comments, motion. I'll make a motion to approve item 11.6. Second. Roll call, please. Council member, yes. Council member FSY, yes. Council member Call, yes. Vice Mayor Pimento, yes. Mayor Hernandez, yes. Motion passes 5-0. Thank you, Tim.

Thank you. Uh item 11.7, a resolution authorizing city manager to proceed with the acquisition of real property located at 3,300 Aen Road Riverbank uh APN 1320009069 for the future site of Riverbank City Hall in the amount of 840,000 and execute on behalf of the city any and all documents necessary to complete the acquisition of real property. Authorize staff to proceed with the conceptual design of the future city hall upon acquisition and allocate funds from the general fund reserve for set acquisition and from the police and general government system development fee fund 210 for the design. Mayor and council. So this item is with regards to acquiring property for a future city hall. So, back in June of 2018, the uh city underwent a um spatial needs analysis. So, that was based on city council's strategic plan objective to conduct a spatial analysis of all of the city's facilities. At that point in time, uh staff had outgrown the current facilities, making it difficult to add staff necessary in order to serve our residents. In January of 2019, uh, council approved a contract with Indigo, Hammond, and Play Architects for that spatial needs analysis. The consultant worked with all of the departments to develop short and long-term staffing requirements in order to determine spatial needs. In February 2020, that spatial analysis was completed. So the obser observations made as part of that spatial analysis was that city hall north of the council chambers are too small and that was very evident today with sometimes the items that we have on the agenda um do draw a large crowd and so we did have folks standing um in the back. Our restrooms are

inadequate and not easily accessible to members of the public. Uh we have insufficient space to house future needs of administration and the parks and recreation departments at city hall south. Our building is severely overcrowded. And for those of you who have walked through it, you have seen how overcrowded it is. Um there's some inappropriate separation of counter and staff workspace um which disturbs the staff and creates an inefficient work environment. And there is no public restroom located at city hall south. There were some interim solutions that were provided at that point in time. We had talked about moving parks and recreation to some lease space, reorganizing the space to allow for an expanded council chambers and allow administration to expand and then improving access to expand the restrooms. At city hall south, we had talked about moving finance department to a leased space and then reorganizing the existing space to house planning and building and development services administration. Um, so sorry that this is so small, but basically what the spatial needs analysis told us was that we needed approximately 23,870 square ft. Mind you, this was back in 2020. We are now six years later. So moving forward in March 2020, the CO 19 pandemic began and this project was placed on hold. In August of 2021, a city council strategic plan update at that point in time included an objective to research the feasibility of a new city hall to accommodate current and future needs. staff began to explore vacant buildings which included right next door to City

Hall South at 3234 Santa Fe and a location at 6436 Oakdale Road. In February of 2024, council opted not to proceed with the lease of a building located on Oakdale Road, um, which had approximately 40,000 square feet, um, which would accommodate the city's anticipated growth in staff. Council and the public on that date expressed their strong desire to have city hall remain downtown. With that direction, in June of 2024, council approved a contract with Architecture Plus, Inc. or API to perform a site assessment which evaluated four sites located in downtown Riverbank for our city hall. Um, three sites were currently owned by the city and one of the sites was on private property, which is the former Del Rio Theater site. The assessment included field visits to confirm existing conditions to determine viability for expansion or building demolition. We also had a concept design prepared um to provide site and or building footprint design to aid in the evaluation of each property. And so that site assessment, as I mentioned earlier, did evaluate four sites within our downtown area. Here's some of the criteria that was used. Things like buildable area, how many stories we would need in order to achieve the square footage that was necessary. Uh we are in the downtown specific plan. So there are some limits set within that specific plan. um in terms of the number of stories, number of parking spaces, how close is it to local transportation and public transportation,

uh distance to the existing city-owned parking lot that we have here on Third Street, um temporary relocation for during construction if that was going to be needed, whether we needed to purchase land. Um and final one, advancement of the revitalization strategies outlined in the riverbank downtown specific plan. So of the four sites, um city council did um select 3,300 Aerson Street as the preferred option. It had the most buildable area at 13,500 square ft. Uh the minimum number of stories we would need for a 40,000 square foot location would be three. Uh there's already 84 parking spots on site. That does not include the parking lot across the street um which could be used for employee parking, thus leaving the 84 um spaces strictly for residents. It was close to our bus stop. Um demolition would not be required because the demolition had already been completed at that time. we would not have to temporarily relocate any employees as no existing building um would be impacted. We would need to purchase the land. Um and it does further our revitalization strategy in our downtown specific plan. Council selected a second uh site uh city hall north which is the building we are currently in now. Um that one only had buildable area of 8,125 square ft. We would need a minimum of five stories in order to accommodate that 40,000 square foot number. Um, which is over what's allowed in the downtown specific plan. There's zero parking spaces on site. Um, it's a shorter distance to the bus stop. It's a longer distance to our city-owned

facility, our parking lot. Um, there would be demolition required. We would have to uh relocate employees. That would be both housing, um parks and recreation, the city council chambers, and we would have to relocate administration. We wouldn't need to purchase land, and it would not further the revitalization strategy of the downtown specific plan. So, moving forward, council um did provide me with authorization to initiate property negotiations to acquire 3,300 Aches Road or the former Del Rio Theater site since it was the preferred site selected by council. A property appraisal performed by Cogdale and Associates evaluated the property based on its highest and best use for a commercial development um which would be consistent with the zoning and the downtown specific plan. It was evaluated as is and they would they determined an appraisal value of $840,000. Here's just a quick site plan where you would have city hall um up at the top left corner um facing Aches and uh Third Street there. Um there'd be a little So the darker gray would be our primary site. You'll notice there's a a darker gray just um south of that. And that would be basically where we would want to set up our council chambers so that it would remain independent of um our regular city hall facility but still be a part of it. The bottom floor we would look at doing our council chambers with the above floor. Then um going ahead and connecting to um the second floor of our city hall uh main city hall facility. As you'll

notice there, there is plenty of parking um available for residents. Now, I will say that the parking that is just south of that um that gray building where Norma has her little red dot at that is shared parking with the um third and uh third and Topeka building which is Mr. Za's current office space. So, that would remain shared parking um as part of this acquisition and building. Next steps would be to authorize me to proceed with the purchase. Um the acquisition cost would be $840,000. We would be covering closing costs as well. We do not yet have an estimate for that. Uh broker's fees uh would be 2.5% or 21,000 would be funded via the general fund reserve. Upon closing of the property, we would want to proceed with the conceptual design with API that will assist in future cost estimates and it would be funded via the police and general government system development fee. What does a conceptual design include? It includes a site plan with the municipal code considerations, making sure that we're complying with the downtown specific plan architectural guidelines, a schematic design with the four plans for the site depicting a three to fourstory building with approximately 46,320 square feet. I'm sorry, that should say $18,000. I don't know where that extra two came from. Um it would include a 3D massing model which is a conceptual exterior rendering that illustrates the building um form along with the proposed material and color selection. We would have some interior space planning which would finalize the interior space planning

needed to ensure compliance with ADA updates, new uh space planning standards um compared to the previous report which was prepared back in 2020. So that is a cost of between 4500 and 6750 and it's based on an estimate of between 20 and 30 hours. So we would recommend setting the budget at the higher end of 6750. Interior elevations preparing interior elevations for up to two major public spaces so that you could visualize what those will look like. Um for example the city council chambers and the lobby area. I'm going to talk a little bit more about the funding sources um that we'll use to acquire and to proceed with the conceptual design. Uh so as I mentioned earlier, the acquisition would come from the general fund reserve. In August of 2019, the city council did adopt a general fund reserve policy which established a target reserve level of between 13 and 15%. Our estimate for the end of this fiscal year on June 30th is at 43%. Um the policy also established how the reserve may be used. It can be used for economic uncertainty in the event of an economic downturn, emergency reserves or natural disasters, or one-time non-recurring capital needs, which the purchase of this property would be considered a one-time non-recurring capital need. The conceptual design comes from the police and general government system development fee. And these are fees that are collected from new development and are used to offset the costs to accommodate for growth. With that, my recommendation for you tonight is to proceed with the

acquisition of the real property located at 3,300 Aches Road in the amount of 840,000. On behalf of the city, authorize me to execute any and all documents necessary. Um, upon completion of the acquisition, proceed with the conceptual design of the new city hall facility and approve the allocation of funds from both the general fund reserves for the acquisition and from the police and general government system development fee for the conceptual design. And that is all um in my report and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from council? So, I have a lot of questions, but uh first I want to ask for a historical rundown um of the Del Rio site, the 3300 Aes um and how we got to this place with this property. Back in 2005, the city of Riverbank established a redevelopment agency, which was technically a separate legal entity from the city of Riverbank. The intent of establishing the agency was to be able to have a funding source to eliminate blight and encourage economic development and to encourage affordable housing. How was it funded is a portion of property tax was segregated from the property tax that's collected and given to this agency in order to perform those projects. that funding source was used as a repayment um source for bonds that were uh taken out by the agency themselves. The agency used the bonds in order to purchase the property um at Del Rio Theater which included the parking lot and also included the location where the new office buildings are at. It also funded all of the beautiful work that you see here in our downtown um which was at a cost of about $9 to10 million. We also then used about $3 million of that in order to help fund the construction of the Riverbank family apartments because of the timing when that redevelopment agency was created in 2005. That was three years before the economic downturn when the housing market

crashed. Property values significantly dropped which meant that property taxes significantly dropped and they reached a point of almost being bankrupt because they were not able to make their annual payments back to those that basically loaned it the monies to them. Do we remember what that amount was? the repayment per year,

it was over $800,000 a year. I can bring up a schedule if you give me a minute, but um it's was between $800 and and a million dollars. In 2012, the state of California did away with redevelopment agencies. And at that point in time, the direction to all of the cities who had redevelopment agencies was you must wind down the activities of the agency. So no new projects could be funded. You had to pay off any debt and you had to go ahead and uh dispose of any properties that you had because at the end of the day, we want you as zero assets because then we will officially close you down. Because the downturn in the economy was still occurring at that point in time, we were sending every single revenue to the loan holders or bond holders. And so in order to continue to do that, the agency, which was no longer the city, the city opted not to continue with the agency. And so there was a three member board appointed by the state of California. They were responsible for making sure they winded everything down. So, in order to continue to pay those loans, they had to sell everything they had, which meant selling the property at Del Rio Theater. And at that point, the value was $175,000. Why was that? There was a building on it. It had a lot of historical value, but there was significant structural issues that were not evaluated during the uh purchase of the property. there was asbests. So there was a lot of

environmental issues that were not evaluated during the purchase. And so at the end of the day, the new um owner decided it was easier to demolish than to move forward with building or re uh rehabilitating the site. So if I'm understanding correctly, the city of Burberbank in 2005 created the redevelopment agency. Yeah. locally that group purchased that site. Uh how much did they purchase that site for? 1.7 and it included all three properties, right? So the Reed's garage was included in that

um for 400,000 if that's correct. Um and then no evaluation done, but the devel redevelopment agency itself in 2005 was funded by taxpayer dollars, property taxes. Yes, correct. And then in 2012, the state gave direction to to dissolve or to stop pulling money, dissolve it, start selling assets. So, did the state redevelopment agency take the deed of that property or did the city still hold it?

Technically, it was the state. If you look at the grant deed that was um issued to Mr. A it is under the name of the riverbank designated local authority. So technically the state but the city created the agency that initially bought the property. Correct. Okay. Um I'm going to marinate on that. Are there any other questions or comments from council?

So I got a got a couple concerns with with this. So, so I'm just trying to kind of kind of compare what we've kind of already done. Um, so we were in February of 2024 looking at a 40,000 square foot unit. That's that was kind of kind of the same thing, right? An all-in-one city hall uh purchase price of 6 mil with a million and a half for upgrades that was going to accommodate us for roughly 40 years plus. So, I'm just kind of comparing that uh there. Uh so in in our in our agenda packet um there was a conclusion uh that that commercial and retail office is the highest and best use and not civic. Um I would have to agree with that. Uh if we're kind of comparing commercial land sales tractor supplies paying about $17 $11.79 a square foot that they're major commercial uh downtime mix use is average $862 square foot. So, realistically, uh, if we're comparing apples to apples, it's roughly about $13 a square foot. And so, this offer is roughly in the $20 22 uh per square foot range. Uh, which would be above market. Um, kind of kind of considering everything with the expenditures outpacing the revenues. um just been kind of watching our reserves kind of doing you know slowly uh going from 50% down to mid-40s uh with with this projection right so we're we're we're looking at depleting the reserves roughly around 2029 2030 um so those are those are some of the concerns I have um with this so I'll pause there

are there any other council oh if we purchase it how much will be left in the general fund.

So, currently we're at about an estimate of 43%. Um, we're asking for probably less than 1% of of what's there. So, we would still have over the 15% that's required in our general fund reserve policy. We're at 43. Our policy only requires 15. So, there's a significant difference there. And just to remind everybody, we did just recently lease City Hall East because of a lack of space. Um for those who have visit us at City Hall North just recently, you've seen a major remodel of our front lobby area which significantly reduced um where our residents can can join us um in that location. Um, but we have been making interim and taking interim solutions in order to accommodate all of the growth in staff and that's really just the tip of the iceberg as we need more staff. You did also hear um tonight as part of our class and compensation study um that staff is feeling one of the negatives was that staff was willing feeling that we had a lack of staff available to be able to do all of the work we need to do. Well, we can't fill those positions if we don't have the space to place them at.

And I would like to just point out that had we gone with number two, we would have really been strapped because this building would have to close and we would have to find somewhere to put all our personnel, which means sending our citizens to different locations for different aspects of what they need to do. By selecting this site and purchasing this, we have city hall all in one location. No demolish required. No relocating of our citizens all and then we'll have everybody in one location which I and the big part is the citizens wanted it downtown. It's downtown.

So So question for staff for for a 3540 million project. Do we have a fully funded capital plan besides the bonds, the loans, and possible sewer rate increases?

So, we don't have a current estimate. That's what the conceptual design will allow us to do. It'll then allow us to evaluate funding, but that would be the same case here at city hall north is that we would have to demolish this site as it is not adequate to um host multiple stories. So, you would still have to fund a whole new city hall at this uh city hall north location. So, no, we don't have that. And then in looking at other priorities, as a reminder, your water and sewer enterprise funds are designed to collect funds from the resident users in order to offset the cost of the operations. So, your general fund should not be subsidizing those because that means you're not collecting enough from the users in order to to pay for those costs. So, so a rate increase would have to happen is what is what I'm hearing her

only if you're planning to change the operations of the water and sewer enterprise fund and that'll depend too on what we do from the feasibility study.

So water will pay for its own costs associated with providing water service. Sewer will do the same. Your general fund doesn't have costs that it necessarily passes on other than things like our recreation feasibility study that we we presented to offset some minor costs, but otherwise it provides funding for just like general fund purposes and discretionary purposes. If we didn't pay for a new building, we would in the near future have to be paying for rentals on another couple, what do they call them? Modulars, and looking for locations on where to put those because we cannot continue to have our employees in the space that they're in. And we need to hire people to do the jobs and walk and get away from consultants who just come to work on that one job. We need to have employees in position that have worked for the city and understand what we want. So, I'm a little um I'm a little challenged in that in 2020 the spatial asked for 23,870 square ft and then now um it was around 40,000 square ft. So, we we've added a significant amount of square footage. And then not only that, but the potential site also is showing a 6,320 square foot building for council chambers. Um, so now we're asking to construct around 46,000 square ft. Um, going around three stories. It's going to obviously take a lot of um a different type of framing for construction. uh more durable. So, the average I did some research and I

don't know if there's contractors here to kind of uh tell me yes or no depending um it's going to be around 700 to $1,000 a square foot. So, with the 46,000 square ft between two buildings, we're looking on I mean the high end and it could change because we've seen it with the wastewater treatment plant how uh materials and construction continues to increase and we don't know where that's going to put us if we break ground in 12 months, 36 months depending. Um, so we're looking at easily over a $40 million project. And I mean like I understand we're looking at it on both sides, but um we also seen tonight that the housing element is a big deal and that site was included in our housing element from my understanding at some point uh for CX1 commercial with units on top and I think it was around 50% of the square footage had to be covered um with housing. So now that puts us in a place where we're going back to HCD. We're excluding one property already. And now if this is approved, we have to exclude another property essentially um from our housing element. And uh correct me if I'm wrong on that. So it just really binds us. And then the city continuing to buy lots, we're taking more potential monies off of our tax role because of the revenues that we can get on property taxes from a commercial um and residential development. So, I know we're kind of working off and ifs, buts or ors, but there's a lot of factors in here and these are all potentially going to impact us in the long run.

Yes. With regards to cost, that's going to happen no matter what. Um, even if you choose city hall north, all you're avoiding is the purchase price because the $35 million purchase or construction cost will still happen. We would just need to go up five stories instead of three or four. Um, yes. And which is not consistent with our downtown specific plan. So technically the the city itself would have to ask for a variance. But with that said, um I lost my train of thought. But the five stories would be based on the confirm confirmation that we need 40,000 square feet because 2020 was 23,000. And we do, mind you, 2020 was right before Crossroads um West was fully approved and developed. And so we did not take that into consideration at all in developing those um spatial analysis. Uh so we are now at 2026 which is six years later. We now have Crossroads West. Um we now have all of the commercial center. We now have so much more development happening on the east side that we originally did not intend. And so the strain on existing city staff continues to grow without being able to bring in additional assistance um to be able to help to offset that which is what your system development fees are designed for. We are collecting for a future city hall. Um and we did have that discussion last year to determine the two sites and this site was deemed the preferred site.

So um is there any public comment

mayor? Yes, we do have public comment. Sorry. Um I have Michael Christie first. So, um, a little bit about my, um, background. Um, guys don't know is I'm an accredited investor, which means I've had to carry, um, a certain net worth and a certain income, um, and declare that to invest in hedge funds and things that aren't traditional investments. And I've invested since 2008 out of state property. And just like Councilman said, then the appraisal doesn't add up. $840,000. I mean, do we are there competing offers on the land? Is is it is it a really hot spot right now? I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. Is is it is it the guy got offers banging down the door that wants to sell it? I mean, so if if building a new build is all is the best option and it's too much to temporarily house staff and rebuild here or across the street, um, make him an offer for 600,000. You know, it doesn't. So I I mean the numbers don't add up and you know you buy something for 400,000 you sell it for1 175 and now you're buying it for840 850 it just I I have a lot of I'm surprised they actually didn't see it and a lot of residents are concerned about this and so whatever you do make it make sense please because it's I know it's late and all that but it just it doesn't doesn't add up and if I if I went to people I invested with and I lost lost money like this, you know, I'd be out of I'd be out of here. So, thank you,

Randy. My question is I just uh on Randy Richardson uh 3126 Dennis Loft Street but uh just was wondering if the city owns this building and owns the north is it are you making pay is there a mortgage on this now or do you own it so that in the future you'd be able to sell it once you're there? Thank you. Um do you want to answer a couple of those?

Yes. So, um, with regards to the properties that we currently own, we would want to keep city hall north and probably use that as open space that could be available for recreation courses that could be available to our neighbors here um, at the historical society for maybe rotating, you know, museum um, hours and and to be able to display some of what they have because it's enclosed all with the sheriff's department. Had it not been for that project, then we would have been easily able to to go ahead and sell that off. City Hall South will no longer be needed. So, that would be sold off. Um, City Hall East is currently under a lease. Um, but it is only a three-year lease. So, if at any time the property owner decides to sell, um, of course, the new property owner would have the option of not continuing a lease and using it for their own use. um and they're by displacing um city staff. Um so that one may also have the option for us to purchase it if we wanted to if we needed to to go ahead and have that long-term um commitment to be able to to continue to house staff.

Thank you.

I'd also like to um address the the employees. I know you're housed in this building and you had to move somewhere else temporarily while we just knock this one built this building down. How would that be for the employees? It's a lot of emotional toil. I mean, you have to get up and move and you have to probably be in a smaller space for three years um while the construction happened. But we have this lot that's available. I understand it's a lot of money. I just had my house appraised and I was surprised how much it was appraised for. Almost 400,000 more than what I bought it for. It happens. The prices of houses and property has gone way up. And that's just how it is.

Thank you. Are there any other comments, questions? Um I I want to hear this. Is there anybody We didn't close public comment. Oh, we didn't. That's right. Are we do we have anything online? Yes, we do. Oh, we do. Okay. Yeah. And then we also have a written comment that was submitted. Um, Zoom, the person under user, Zoom user, I don't have a name. Can you please unmute? Uh, yes. Can you guys hear me? Yes. Please state your name for the record.

Awesome. Um, so my name is Jordan Davidson. I spoke earlier about the uh reasonzoning of partial 3. Um, but yeah, I want to agree with Michael. This does seem like a really gross mismanagement of funds. Um, to be able to go and say we're going to go and spend $850,000 on a property and then go and drop another $40 million on a brand new city hall when we already have a $6 million deficit on our budget. Um, very very concerning. Um, I know again we've seen rising sewer rates. We've seen rising water bills. the residents of this city, not just people that are coming in, but even our retirees and people that have spent their whole entire lives here that are living off social security. How are they going to be able to continue to pay for these rising costs? I also want to make a note too that about the whole entire temporary worksts. I mean, we got high school kids and elementary school kids and middle school kids working in portable and learning in portable facilities, little basic campers. And I know me personally working for a small business, we have portables on site too to be able to go and take for more workers coming on or temporary workers. I mean honestly work it's not always about being luxurious and having this ample amount of space. It's about getting the job job done. I think honestly this is really sound more of like a luxury than really a necessity for the city. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Um, and then mayor, we did have one written comment submitted. There's no one else on Zoom wishing to speak. Um, the written comment came from Mr. Damon Mayfield. It reads, "The city is currently facing a structural budget deficit of roughly $850,000. Yet, instead of priorit prioritizing financial stability, we are considering on a project that does not directly benefit residents in a meaningful way or immediate way. This raises serious concerns about fiscal responsibilities and where the council's priorities lie. Even more troubling is the history tied to this property. The city previously sold it as a loss of over 300,000 and now we are discussing reacquiring or investing in it again. That kind of decisionm reflects poorly on stewardship of of public funds and undermines confidence in how taxpayer dollars are managed. At the same time, there is a wellocumented pattern of reluctance when it comes to funding basic infrastructure maintenance, roads, sewer lines, and essential services that res residents rely on every day. These are not optional expenses. These are fundamental responsibilities of local government. Yet, yet we continue to hear that funding is limited when it comes to maintaining what we already have. So it is difficult to justify moving forward with a project that primarily serves internal administrative convenience rather than the broader public. A new or consolidated city hall may benefit operations, but it does not address any immediate needs of the community. This proposal feels premature and misaligned with the needs of the community. on top of simply being wasteful spending by the council. For these reasons, I urge the council to reject this item or at the very le least look into other options. Thank you. And that is all, mayor, for

public comment. Thank you. Do you have something to add? How many square feet is uh Riverbank Police Services? that I do not know off the top of my head because in the uh plan for 3,300 there you mentioned a potential crossover bridge connecting the two buildings. How how will those two buildings connect? It would be not police services but

No, not the ex. Exactly. So it would be the original the main city hall site. Uh so here we go. So, the main city hall site at the corner of Aches and Third Street and then there would be a PO in between um that other gray building which is where we're looking at. So, that would be a walk through there so that they could get to like an open public space and then this the smaller gray square um that would actually be where the com um our new council chambers would be on the ground floor. Then the second floor would be what connects to the main city hall site,

right? That so my point would be that if we don't want to uh go against the downtown specific plan, we could look at going with city hall north on top of police services to have some sort of connector like this. So I I really would like to see us stay in uh city hall north. uh the relocation process. We do have other properties where we could stay. We could do meetings and the community center. So for me um and obviously with the history of the Del Rio site. So I know for me um I do not wish to move forward with the property. So, I do want to jump on to a statement that was just read is that we have been grossly underfunding the being able to offer services to our residents, whether that's through infrastructure, which this would become considered infrastructure, not being able to serve them in an adequate way um where we could house all of the employees that we need to be able to serve our residents as quickly and efficiently as possible um is also a disservice to our residents.

So I think to our city staff and we 100% agree with you. I think it's just this site the price it's above it's above market. We're sharing a parking lot so we don't even get the full thing. Uh fortunately for us we did lease out uh you know city hall east which alleviated south. Um so we have been making um space for our employees. That's the goal. I just don't think this is this is the option. So,

so we this we have been making space but um as a reminder it's it's temporary and it doesn't allow for us to have additional growth um I I'm not going to make assumptions and I will p privately make judgments on the decisions made in the past with the redevelopment agency um because it it was really out of all of our hands. Um what we're seeing now is just a long history. So this decision is not made in a vacuum. We've seen the timeline, the long history of needing space of I will challenge um some of the comments made that it will be an immediate improvement for our residents, for staff who and many who are residents um these indirect cost for our community here that is lower income in the immediate downtown um that needs a single space to uh visit. I mean, I get I'm sure you all get asked often, where is your office? And I meet them at Starbucks um or Palosanto if they're open. So, I just I don't think there's any more time to um have these conversations when when we really have um and I want to let the public know we've had discussions. We've had um conversations about different properties. And so, I I want to make go ahead and make a motion that we approve this resolution as stated. Can I ask a question?

Yeah. Before we do that, so it's 840,000 and then additional 40 million to build. We don't have an estimate for building yet. So the goal is to be able to secure the site because then we can proceed with conceptual design so that we can get that estimate. And will we have to raise the utility and sewer cost? No, this is not associated with providing water and sewer services to our residents. So there's a motion. I second. Roll call, please. Council member Odiv, no. Council member Fasi, yes. Council member Call, no. Vice Mayor Pimento, no. Mayor Hernandez, yes.

Motion is denied. Right. Um, item 12.1, staff reports. No comments from staff tonight.

Vice Mayor Okay. Like thank you, mayor. I did my Zoom class on communications with Lauren. We discussed different ways of how we can reach the residents that they don't use social media and that they cannot afford the newspaper. How can we find a solution to reach anyone? I found that very interesting. Also, I had a phone conversation with Karen Serpa Whitlo. We talked about the upcoming 250th anniversary. She is a nurse and also she shared with me on how Prop One has affected funding for mental health awareness, the group she belongs to. They meet on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and she invited me to attend the meetings. Also, we did a sister city zoom meeting with Miss Ortiz and her committee and we discussed the upcoming Mexican Independence Day dinner. So, stay tuned for that. Also, St. Francis of Rome in Riverbank is doing a fundraiser. First prize is 75 in TV. Second prize is an Apple Watch. The donation is $10 per ticket and the raffle will be on May 3rd at at the Catholic Church here in Riverbank. If you're interested, please see me for tickets. And that is all I have.

Thank you, Councilman Moody. Pimp.

You, mayor. Uh, so food truck Fridays are coming back. Thank you for Parks and Rec for, uh, bringing that back. It's going to be every Friday in May, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the sports complex. Um, if you're looking for a cultural festival, uh, Mexico is coming back May 9th at the community center from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Uh, both of those are free events. Uh, Vault on the Go is coming to Riverbank. I'm going to read this so I don't mess this up. So, Vault on the Go is a mobile industry focused technical training that brings hands-on workforce development directly into communities using professional training systems and real industry equipment. Uh, so they're coming to building 18 uh May 11th, 12th, and 13th. All of the council have the flyers. So, if you uh know somebody uh that'd like to get some job ready skills at no cost, please attend this. Um they're going to be doing a electric relay control troubleshooting training. They have 16 spots uh available. Two spots have been filled as of this morning. Um and happy Mother's Day to everybody. And that's all I got.

Thank you, Council Member FYI.

First of all, I'd like to thank Love Riverbank for the event this last Saturday. Um it was a wonderful turnout and I talked to several people of the project managers and everybody was so excited with what got done. Um, we did have several volunteers come over to the museum and we were able to take down a couple of boards that were covering our windows. What a difference it made for us. And on top of that, they cleaned them all. Cleaned the windows, cleaned the doors, cleaned up the dust, the spiderw webs. Luckily, I didn't have to touch those. Um, but we really appreciate love Riverbank supporting us, and I really appreciate all the volunteers that worked on the projects. Uh, Riverbank Historical Society on May 9th is doing a community picnic event. Please bring a picnic to a picnic to share. And we will be having a proud Riverbank Native and Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame member Herb Henry. He will be sharing heartfelt memories and stories on the front lawn. And we will be providing some drinks and some snacks. And just bring your lunch. Come and sit around. It is from 11 to 1:30. Thank you. Thank you, council McCall.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I attended the Stanco uh meeting as the alternate for mayor. Uh, one of the big questions were was the finance uh finance manager. They have received a good amount of applications and they're starting the hiring process. So, they're hoping to have that person hired by the end of June. Obviously, um things can change, but that is the timeline. Last week, Mayor and I attended Cal City City Leader Summit in Sacramento. We did some lobbying with Assemblyman Heath Flora and it was uh it was good timing because there was quite a few council members from other jurisdictions and we were able to talk about the housing element and the things that we went through today are not just happening here in Riverbank whether they're approved or not approved. Everyone has a lot of questions about how these numbers are being allocated, how it impacts the cities and the city's creativity to achieve these uh standards set by the state. So we are not alone in that. Uh I also mentioned on the March 10th meeting uh my recommendations for a sphere of influence change. So, I'm hope I'm just reinforcing that I would like to see us expand our sphere of influence. And then we are uh sending out memos and posting to our social media QR codes for our communications plan with JPW. And we're looking for community feedback. We don't just want resident feedback. We also want people who own businesses in Riverbank. So, I encourage everyone to please fill out that comm uh that communications plan survey. Uh Stannis Consolidated Fire wanted me to remind everyone to wear life jackets on the water. They've already had one call this season uh for no life jacket water rescue. So they do

have loaners at the station and I am working with Kurin again this year in conjunction with parks and wreck for a life jacket drive. So if you have a Coastg Guard approved life jacket that's new that you'd like to donate, please give me a call. And then lastly, I want to wish my son a happy sixth birthday because today is his birthday and in exactly an hour is when he was born. So that's all.

Thank you. Um yeah, just to add more on the Cal City side, um we officially have a young electeds member group and this was uh council member and Hercules and I who have been working on this for over three years um through this organization. And so uh it was important for us to have Young is under 40 by the way. And so we uh we thought it was important to have um an allies um important to have representation as you know as elected officials we're seeing the brunt of uh everything that's going right and everything that's going wrong with policy and in our landscape. So it's very exciting. Um I also want to give a shout out to Love River Bank. I mean, they've found ways to fill the gaps that we have um in different holidays and events and continue to um improve that. Um I attended the DIA Nños with South Modesto Business United as they're looking to expand their footprint into the greater Stanos County area. Um so there's more to come on that. And um we did have a successful youth info night for the upcoming cohort of our youth council. Um I attended the Riverbank Unified School District state of the district and so their superintendent gave a speech about um what they've seen in the last year and what we're looking forward to in the year to come. And um finally I would love to see you all at the state of some of you don't have a choice. So I'll see you all uh this Thursday at the state of the city. With that, we're going to go to close session. Item 13.1, a conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code 54956.9D. Number of cases, one. Is there any public comment on this or online?

Mayor, there is no one wishing to speak on this item. All right, we are journeying to close session.

Okay, we are returning from close session report from item or 14.1 report from close session item 13.1. Direction has been given to staff. The next regular city council meeting will be on Tuesday, May 12th, 2026. This meeting is adjourned.