City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the March, what is today, the fourth Saratoga City Council meeting. I'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome everybody here. And before we get started with all the nitty gritty stuff, would you all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Britt, can you please go with the roll call and all that other stuff you have to do in the beginning?

Pursuant to Saratoga City Council's remote public participation policy, members of the public may participate in this meeting in person at the location listed on the agenda or via remote attendance using the Zoom information listed on the agenda listed on the agenda. Public attendees participating by Zoom are automatically muted and are not viewable on camera. I will now call the roll. Council member Aftab?

Present.

Fitzsimmons. Present. Zhao.

Present.

Vice Mayor Wallia.

Present.

Mayor Page.

Present.

We have a quorum. And the agenda was posted on February 26.

All right. Thank you. Next we have oral communications on non agendized items. We welcome anyone to come up and speak for up to three minutes on any item that is not on today's agenda. If it's on today's agenda, wait for that item. So Britt, if you could announce the process and announce our first speaker.

If you would like to address the City Council on an item that is not on the agenda and you have not submitted a speaker slip, now is the time to do so. Speakers are limited to three minutes each. Yellow light will come on the podium when you have thirty seconds left and the red light comes on when your time is up. I have one speaker slip. It looks like it's Zhijing Zhang.

Okay, so is this on the appeal? Is this on the appeal? Yes. Oh, okay. Then it looks like we have no speaker slips on non agendized.

Okay, thank you. And for anybody online just understand that we do our non agendized items oral communication at the end of our meeting. Okay, at this time I'd like to share a couple of announcements with the public. First of all, please join me on Saturday, if you haven't been there before, to West Valley College to our farmers market. Once a month, sometimes there's a slide sometimes, that's why I'm looking over there. Just so you all know. There should be a slide, but it's apparently lost in the ether somewhere. I guess the net caught it. Get it? Ether.net.

Sorry. So this is a wonderful opportunity not only to enjoy our farmers market, but to also get a hold of the mayor. Hopefully not physically, but you can ask questions and you know we can we can have a nice conversation in a very casual setting. So encourage you all to join me on Saturday. And I'm there typically from ten to twelve. So come on by. This is also the next one up is Halconi celebrates the year of the Lunar New Year every year. And this year, the celebration will be on Sunday, March 8 from eleven a. M. To three p.

M. This festive community event will feature a traditional lion dance at noon and then lively cultural performances, bands, arts and crafts, and a special children's costume parade for kids 12 and under dressed in their favorite festive attire. Please bring the whole family to enjoy an afternoon of culture, color, and celebration in a beautiful garden setting. How many people here have been at Taholquane Gardens? Okay, the rest of you, this is the time to get there. Okay? And it's located at 14004 And 60 Big Basin Way. Oh wait, is that? Yeah, it's somewhere up there. So it's up past the village.

Just keep going, it's going to the left. You can't miss it. Saint Patrick's Day party or Saint Patty's party as we call it. Get ready for a shamrocking good time sponsored by the Saratoga Village Development Council. The Saint Patty's Day party returns to Saratoga Village on Saturday, March 14 from 2PM to 4PM.

Bring your family and friends to enjoy a festive afternoon filled with fun, surprises, lots of green, and a hunt for green gold throughout the village. And there there may be a chance to win a prize if you find some of that green gold. Be sure to stop by the participating businesses for tasty treats along the street. And keep your eyes open, there might just be lucky pennies scattered on the ground. With lots of kid friendly activities and a lively Saint Patrick's Day spirit, this is a great way to celebrate locally and support our charming village businesses.

And I understand the mayor may have some half dollars to hand out to little kids. So that doesn't mean parents come in shorts and squat down. It's gotta be kids. I'm checking IDs. Are there any council members who'd like to share any announcements?

Okay, seeing no one. We've got a couple of ceremonial items tonight. One in particular, a proclamation declaring March 2026 as Youth Art Month. So this is a proclamation, so will Sophia please come up and join the council on stage? The notes were a little not the way I I wanted to do didn't do them right this time.

Sorry. So tonight we proclaim March as youth arts month. And we're lucky to have Sofia with us. This year's theme, the world needs art reminds us that creativity and artistic expression are essential for a vibrant and connected community. In Santa Clara County, I bet you most of you didn't know this, nearly 60,000 fine arts classes are offered.

Giving students opportunities to develop critical thinking, curiosity, communication, collaboration, and innovation. Skills that are vital for success in higher education, the workplace, and civic life. It isn't all about just technology. Just, I want you all to know that. The Santa Clara County Office of Education continues to champion arts education, ensuring programs are culturally relevant, inclusive, and inspiring for all students.

I'd like to present this proclamation to you, Sophia, on behalf of the entire city council. There you go. Thank you very much. We'll we'll take a picture and then I know you, Sophia, might wanna say a couple of things. There you go. I can hold it. Okay. You hold the mic.

Okay. I'll hold it. Thank you. So I am the arts coordinator for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. We do have a county representative in each county that works with the CDE, supports the CDE.

And I just wanted to highlight a couple of events. They're free and they're sold out unfortunately. But for youth arts month this month, this next Saturday at RAFT, we are holding a arts education resource fair from nine to one and I'm doing this in partnership with SV Creates, our county arts council. And we'll have tabling from arts organizations, two panel discussions, and a hands on arts activity. And then our, I want to say maybe this is the fifth annual Vivo Mariachi Showcase, ballet folklorico and mariachi groups from local school districts will be performing at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater.

I just heard today that it is sold out. But of course we welcome walk ups And that is from six to eight on March, at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater. Thank you Mayor Page and members of the Saratoga City Council for recognizing March as Youth Arts Month.

You're welcome. And any council member like to add any comments? Great. So why don't you hold this and then we'll get a couple of pictures from staff and put this in my back pocket so I don't know. Oh, so before we, Sofia's I know on her way out, but if there's any member of the public that would like to make any comments on this item, please come on up.

Ladies, anybody in the arts? Come on. Okay, thank you.

I do have someone remotely who has their hands raised.

Oh, apologies. I was, it was more for a non agendized item. Just wanted to make a

quick Okay. Comment That's at the end of the meeting. That's at the end of the meeting.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Let's see. I've got to get back to my pages. I tore them out. Excuse me one minute. Okay. Next we have the appointment of a new Parks and Rec Commissioner. So is there a member of council who would like to make a motion adopting the resolution appointing Michael to the Parks and Rec Commission and direct the city clerk to administer the oath of office?

So moved.

Second. I have a motion and I have a second by Councilmember Zhao. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Awesome. Michael, would you like to come up? And if you'd like to bring your lovely wife, we'd appreciate that too.

You don't have to worry about saying that.

Okay. So if you wanna repeat, or it's

up to you.

I'll I'll read it.

Alright. Now raise your right hand.

I, Michael Odenheimer, solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of The United States and the constitution of the state of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of The United States and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.

Congratulations, Ben. Good. If you would like to

All right. Next on our agenda is the consent calendar. The consent calendar consists of items that are typically non controversial. But this is Saratoga. And so we never know. But typically they're non controversial and pretty kind of mundane items. But oftentimes we do want to pull an item to discuss it further. And we certainly welcome members of the public to do that. Is there any council member who would like to pull an item? Okay.

Is there any member of the public that would like to make a comment on any item on our consent calendar? Then I'm going to ask that we, if I've got no speakers from the public. Britt, do we have anybody on line? Do you want to? Okay. Then we will mosey on forward. Do we have a motion?

I'll move to approve the consent calendar. Second.

And the second by, I think I saw Cookie's hand go up before it came out of Ian's mouth. So I guess we're all in, we're all going to support this. With that, we've a motion from Bilal and a second from Cookie. All in favor please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion passes five-zero. Thank you very much. All right. Our next agenda item is Item 2.1, an appeal hearing on the Planning Commission approval of a tentative parcel map for a three lot subdivision located at 13785 Saratoga Avenue. We'll begin with a report from staff followed by counsel questions for staff.

Excuse me?

Oh yes.

I need to recuse because I live within 500 feet.

Oh my goodness gracious.

True that.

Thank you so much. So we'll, if you could go to the lobby and we'll make sure we have somebody come and get you. Unlike the last time I went back there and you guys forgot. I'm kidding. They remembered. Late, but they remembered.

Good evening, mayor Page, vice mayor Wallia, and council members. The 2.3 acre project site is located at 13785 Sherwood Avenue and has an average slope of 8.4%. Existing structures on-site include a single family residence and two detached garages. Saratoga Creek enters the site from the Southwest, passes through the center of the site before it exits the site at the north. Bruning Court is located along the south side of the site, Harrods Creek Court located along the northern side of the site, and Saratoga Avenue borders the front of the site.

Existing trees comprise a mixed woodland, with most trees being coast live oaks, California Bay, coast redwood, and western sycamore. Structures on adjacent sites are a combination of one and two story homes. Post tentative map will subdivide the site into three parcels. Schaertuga Creek bisects the site with a portion fronting Schaertuga Avenue with R120000 zoning designation, while the portion of the site on the opposite side of the creek has an R 110000 zoning designation. Parcel 1 will be 47,960 square feet, and will maintain the existing site frontage on Sherwood Avenue.

Parcels 2 will be 12,327 square feet, and Parcel 3 will be 13,939 square feet. Both parcels located opposite side of the creek with access from Heritage Creek Court via bridge spanning Syracuse Creek. Nine protected trees are proposed for removal. All existing structures on-site would remain. No other development is proposed.

On January 14, the Planning Commission approved the tentative map application to subdivide the site, but includes removal of nine protected trees. On January 21, the abrian property owner subdivided excuse me, submitted an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to approve the project. This slide lists the appellant's six justifications for their appeal. The appellant's primary concern is that the product related details related to the bridge, fire department access, tree removals, geotechnical issues, and details related to storm water and drainage were not resolved when the tentative map was approved. No development is currently proposed.

The application for a tentative parcel map is for mapping purposes only. It does not include any future development other than the proposed bridge location. Accordingly, a tentative map application does not include details such as a grading and drainage plan, improvement plans, and construction plans. In the absence of these plans, reviewing departments such as the fire department, city engineer, and city geologist include conditions of approval, which state that an application for a grading or building permit are to include these documents and types of information that these documents are to include prior to approval and issuance of any building permits. These are the findings that the planning commission must make to approve the tentative map.

The planning commission was able to make all the required findings to approve the tentative map. Staff recommends it should lie the appeal, improve the tentative parcel application, and the city arborist recommendation to remove nine trees and find the application to be exempt from CEQA, concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Chris. Any questions of staff? Or Brian, do you have anything to add before we go there? Okay. Any questions, Steph? Tina.

So Chris, thank you so much for a good report, as well as helping us at the site visit yesterday. I have a quick question just so that we all understand the processes this application is for a tentative map approval. Just the application is asking for creation of three separate lots.

Correct.

And there is no application for any house, but the setbacks are called out within the request today.

Right. The tenant map does include a building envelope for Lots 2 And 3, which do show all the setbacks.

So if and when there is an application to build on any of those lots, were it to be approved, then what happens? Do the residents get to come and give their input in that process? How does that work?

For a Zion View application, the city does send notices out to adjacent neighbors. And at that time, neighbors will have an opportunity to provide comment.

Okay. Thank you.

Aloha,

I have a question. Part of this map, this is just a subdivision. When it comes to subdivision, what's also been envisioned here is a fire access road. Why is there a fire access road if there is no development considered at this point in time? Why is that added? And really just to also for the broader public to understand.

Right. The fire department does review the tentative map, and they just want to make sure that the both sites have access for the fire department.

Okay. And the fire department's reviewed this?

They have. They they review is the the map itself and the dimensions of the turnaround. Yes, they have reviewed it and they've approved it.

Thank you.

Ian, anything? I have one question. It's kind of a follow on to Bilal. So is there any possibility that the fire turnaround, as it's been laid out in this plan, could change?

I would say no.

Okay.

Because if they were to design the map as approved, that is designed to turn around the fire department has agreed to.

Okay. So that's why my question was going to be, since we've got no buildings defined, why do we need to define what trees are being removed? How many, you know, of the necessary or the city ordinance trees would be removed? But I think you just answered it because you have to define where that turnaround is to make sure that the fire department approves the tentative map.

Correct.

And in order to do that, you know where the trees are that are going to have to be removed to make that turnabout happen.

Yes, that's correct.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. With that we will go to the public hearing. Britt, how many speaker slips do you have?

We have the appellant's presentation as well.

Oh yeah, oh that's true. I forgot. Yeah, didn't mention that first. So we're going to have the appellant and the applicant and the representatives will each have a total of ten minutes maximum for opening statements. So to me that's each five. But that's not the way this is written. Each have five?

Each 10.

Oh they each have 10.

Okay.

So they each have ten minutes to start and then five minutes at the close. And is there a specific order? I think we usually have the appellant go first. Is that correct?

Exactly. The appellant first, followed by the applicant, and then the public testimony, and questions of the appellant and You can ask questions of the appellant and applicant after their presentations at the beginning. And then at the end, it's the applicant and followed by the appellant.

Okay. That's what I thought. Okay. So if we could have the appellant come up and make their presentation. You have ten minutes.

This is the clicker.

Speaker and then the clicker is right here.

Fantastic. Thank you. Got it, thank you. This is my first time doing it, so apologies for the lack of knowledge. But thank you for giving us this opportunity, Mayor Page, Vice Mayor Valia, Council Member Zhao, Council Member Avtab, it's great to be here.

My name is Partho Mishra, I've lived in Saratoga for eighteen years now. I was joking with Mayor Page that I voted for him, and I can go around and say the same over the rest of you, but we've been here eighteen years, this has been a lovely community to live in. Ananya, my wife and I have brought up our two kids here, they've gone through the Saratoga Public School System, And we have a lovely vibrant community, you see our whole neighborhood sitting in those chairs back there. Gay and Glenn have been here forty eight years. So that's the list of neighbors that you see represented out here.

And the reason why we are all here is because we have a very simple concern. We are not against development. This is not a NIMBY situation. Just to make it super clear, we are not against development. We are very concerned that there are significant environmental issues and engineering feasibility issues that are being swept under the rug.

And as we go into the details of the project proposal, we'll try to walk you through that. So first off, as the city just presented, the core of the proposal is to take the plot at 1300785 Saratoga Avenue, and chop it up into three parcels. And we won't go through the of all of that. The crucial thing there is two things. If you've read the reports, there are two things in there that are important.

One, you have to build a bridge which can carry 75,000 pounds. I mean, engineered, this is not your garden variety driveway, right, bridge. Second, it relies on a fire access design, which is completely unproven. There was a really good question asked just a few minutes ago about has a fire department signed off on it. Just go read the city's own report.

It says stuff like, this must be done, that must be done, that must be done. At the end of it, if all these things are done, then we will analyze it. So as we go through the details, we'll talk more about it. But you know, simple question, has anyone even figured out if our Saratoga fire trucks can go down that narrow creek, access street heritage? All of you were there on Monday.

We'll talk more about that, right? So in our mind, the main issue that we see is that all this constitutes avoidable risk, Avoidable risk to the neighbors, to all of us, and our properties, and our safety, and avoidable risk to Saratoga Creek habitat. It's a liability. So our very basic question is, why are we swapping the order? Why are we doing things piecemeal?

Why don't we do the design, approve the design, analyze the design, and if it's all pretty straightforward, then move forward with it. Right? And there were good questions asked about, are there plans to build buildings there, houses there, and so forth? And I had to compliment the city on its openness. They've actually shared a lot of plans with us.

My neighbor Raj and I have been over to the city council office so many times. There's a lot of work that's going on, and to blandly assert that this is just simply drawing a line in the map. I don't believe that's true, but the city's record should back that up. So to kind of net it all out, our concern is the piecemeal approach. And CEQA, we're not lawyers, we're not environmental experts.

It seems to us, clearly indicates that these issues need to be addressed upfront. We cannot have a sequel clause 15 exemption, blankly, as if we're just drawing lines on a map in a tract housing kind of situation. So the core of all of this, if you look at the map, you saw a really nice map earlier, but this is sort of like a little cartoon my neighbors and I drew up. I think it helps capture the core of the idea. You walk there on Monday afternoon.

So what you see is that Saratoga Creek kind of bends around, it keeps shifting its banks. We've been there eighteen years. Glenn's been there forty eight years, he'll tell you all about the things he's seen. And the parcels two and three are right in the floodplain. It's bang in the floodplain of Saratoga Creek. And the bridge that's proposed, do you see that narrow little temporary bridge that's been stuck there? Not sure that there's a permit for that, by the way, from Heritage Creek Court as it goes and cuts across Saratoga Creek. That's where the 75,000 pound load bearing bridge needs to be constructed. Right? So our concern is the following.

I live in that, where you see that first sea, where it shows Saratoga Creek, that's my property, right? So I stand there on the banks of that, and when there's heavy rain, Saratoga Creek becomes a raging torrent. It goes up, the height goes up about eight feet in three or four hours. If there's a log that comes down and dams it, my property floods. Now imagine, think of that bridge where Heritage Creek Court is coming in, the 75,000 pound bridge crossing Saratoga Creek.

Imagine if that bridge were to collapse in a flood, or if there was an earthquake, what would it do to all of the houses around it? Okay. Well, what are the houses around it? Well, that's your bird's eye view. There's about 30 homes that are affected. You see 20 of our neighbors are signed up on this appeal. Right? So if you look at Parcel 3 and Parcel 2, Boroni Court is on this side. Marybrook is on the kind of the other side, and then there's a little bit of Heritage Creek in Old Tree Way. You'll hear my neighbors come up and talk about it, and this is not about deer or spotted owls or things like that.

It was a genuine concern about risk, risk to our homes. So I'll just highlight three risks real quick, and then summarize. So number one, the fire access design is unproven. I'm not going by my opinion, I'm just going by the documents that were submitted by our fire department, and the comments that they put into the report that the Planning Commission shared with us. It said in the public record.

And so there's no engineering feasibility that's been done. There's no structural capacity analysis of the bridge. We don't know if a bridge can be built. We don't know if safe fire access is possible. If there's a fire in that parcel, my house is right across, it would spread to my house in thirty minutes.

This is a safety issue for me and my family, it's not about opposing development. And again, to blandly assert that we're just redrawing lines on the map, I mean, think that's disingenuous. Now, I wouldn't go into all the geotechnical issues around creek and bridge instability risks, I'm not a geologist. But what we've done here is summarized the city's own report. I have a copy of it, happy to kind of distribute it.

But essentially what the geologist that was advising the city essentially said is, number one, they need more data for liquefaction. They need, there's evidence of lateral spreading. They had very specific suggestions about what needed to be done in terms of bridge construction to avoid those problems. It's very detailed, it's like a four page report, and they're very honest. And they call out all various the hazards.

It's not just flooding, it's a seismically active zone and they call that out as well, right? So we have a really basic question, right? We live in Silicon Valley, it should take us what, like three months to finish this analysis. Let's get the experts, let's have them do the analysis, and then we'll know where we stand. We'll know what the design needs to be. And again, we're not opposed to development. Finally, I think in the previous presentation, you briefly heard about the removal of the trees. Know, why should I ask a good question about, why are we removing the trees? Well, because, you know, the fire trucks need to come in and they need to turn her up. Totally makes sense.

But here's the rub, right? There's no construction that's planned. There's no validation that's been done by the fire department. They've just, you know, again, go look at their own language, and they're going to go cut, right now it's nine trees. Last year, there was a proposal to cut 16 trees, and all of you have been to the site, these are magnificent redwoods and California Oaks and so on.

And this is not about the trees, you're asking a very simple common sense question, which is, let the fire access design be approved. Once the fire access design is approved, we'll know what trees need to be cut. Let's approve it then. Why cut the trees first, then we find out that that fire access design doesn't work, and we have to go maybe cut another bunch of trees. That seems illogical. It's again kind of, we're swapping the order in which things need to be done. So our fundamental concern is there are four major issues. There needs to be a 75,000 pound bridge that needs to be constructed. That's got consequences. I'm sorry, I'm overtime.

So like in the Oscars, I'm being kind of booted off. You can read most of this. It's essentially all about CEQA.

Thank you. We're going to have to get on to the next one. I appreciate it. And sorry you ran over. Sorry about that.

But you can do the requested action. We request the city to grant this appeal, set aside the approval, and we do not oppose development. All we ask for is analysis.

Thank you. Please do

the analysis.

Thank you very much. If it's okay with the counsel, I'd like to have, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to ask you to please refrain from applauding. One of the things that we do as a policy in our chambers is that if a bunch of people clap for one speaker, then it kind of is a bullying effect on somebody who might have an opposing viewpoint. So we ask that you please respect everybody and hold that. If you want to support somebody, please raise your hand and show us that you support that. That's a great way to do it. But it doesn't, you know, have the resulting effect of bullying someone. We appreciate it. So I'd like to ask the counsel to refrain from questions of the appellant until after the applicant speaks. And then we could go and do a little bit.

So if I could have the applicant come up. And you've got ten minutes to present.

Thank you. Okay. Do I press anything? No.

Thank you.

Let's bring up your presentation if you got one. We don't have one.

I'm just talking.

Okay.

Me. We'll

take that one down and put you up there.

Okay. So I'm the applicant. My husband and I are the applicants, and Michelle and Mark Brady. Thank you for visiting us on Monday, think it was, and thank you for hearing us this evening. I just want to again state that we've been in Saratoga for eighty five years, or my family has.

My grandparents were here a long time ago, 1941, purchased this property. And they raised my dad here, and then subsequently my dad raised me here. And now we're hoping to eventually have our kids and grandkids come and live near us. We believe that our submittal of the tentative map, which accommodates and complies with city code, demonstrates our desire to provide affordable housing, an affordable housing option for our children and our grandchildren. We've worked hard with a team of professionals to make sure for a tentative map application that we've followed code.

We did not ask for any variances or any exceptions, and we are just asking for a tentative map at this time. We hugely value family and our community, and we believe that this project, by adding a few more pieces to the housing element, a couple more places to live, embodies our values of family and community. So we're dedicated and committed to the success of this project. So thank you for hearing us, and thank you for listening. And I think my husband's going to speak at the end. Thanks.

Okay. Thanks. Do we have any questions of the appellant or the applicant? Yan, sure. Sure.

All right. This is actually for our city attorney.

Okay.

Can you explain to us why this subdivision is not under the CEQA requirement?

So the, excuse me, the subdivision, CEQA has a number of exemptions for projects that the legislature has determined don't merit CEQA investigations. And the staff report notes that this project fits within three of them. There may be others as well. There's replacement of existing structures, which applies to things like replacing bridges and things like that. There's an exception for minor divisions of land, which allows subdivisions up to four parcels that are consistent with the general plan as this is, and construction of homes on those parcels.

And then there's a third exception for minor alterations to facilities. I'm working from memory. And again, this fits there. So when a project meets those criteria, the city there isn't a basis for the city to require more. So, that's the circumstance we have here.

For tentative maps subdivisions, there are often numerous improvements that happen later. The landowner, before they spend the money investing in significant engineering design work, wants to know that the subdivision can go forward. And there are numerous standards as outlined in the materials in your staff report. There are all kinds of requirements applicable to those that the bridge and any related improvements would have to satisfy.

Thank you.

Any questions of the appellant or the applicant?

May I first follow-up with Richard?

Okay.

Thank you. So Richard, thank you for your response. And some concerns were raised by the appellant to follow-up on the train of thought that Jan's question, and you responded to that. So concerns were raised about the fire department approval, the bridge just calling it out very specifically in the language that the appellant used and the habitat of the creek. So the creek habitat, because this is CEQA exemption, is that going to be studied later, Or it doesn't apply because of the CEQA?

Well, it won't be examined through CEQA, but it will be examined through there are a number of regulatory requirements. So the Department of Fish and Wildlife, every stream crossing goes through a rigorous review process by the Department of Fish and Wildlife where they consider those things. Typically in Santa Clara County, Valid Water plays a role in reviewing the project. Depending on the circumstances, there might be Army Corps of Engineer review. And then there's the engineering review.

Does the bridge meet the requirements of the state building codes, which are very rigorous for public safety concerns. So all those are issues that would need to be looked at in designing the bridge. But it would not be through a sequel process.

Thank you. But they will be analyzed. And there was one other there was a mention of Parcels two and three, proposed Parcels two and three being in the flood plain. The building code and other regulations kick in with Valley Water and all the other agencies that do not permit construction in the flood plain area and things to that nature?

They regulate construction in flood plain. And I think depending on the particular circumstances, there are different levels of construction allowed.

Okay. But there are those regulations that don't

There are numerous regulations in the building code, and again, Valley Water, to get at those sorts of issues.

So if the parcels were to be created and then project applications came that did not I'm finding yet another way to convey what I'm asking you already. If the design standards, whether engineering for the bridge or the fire turnaround or construction because of the flood plain zone or anything like that were to happen, that would if it doesn't meet the standards for any of those, that design, the staff would

The engineers will have to work to find a way to meet all the standards. The environmental protection standards, the flood protection standards, and the health and safety standards, and the engineering standards are all things that an array of state and local agencies will be looking at.

Okay. Thank you. Last question for you. One remark made by the appellant was this is being done backwards or something like that, I think he mentioned. What is our process? The concern expressed was this is a piecemeal approach. What does our city ordinance say? What are the rules? Are we following the process correctly?

The rules, yeah. This is the process that we follow for all subdivisions. The subdivision presents and discusses the infrastructure that will be required, but does not include detailed plans for that infrastructure.

Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate your patience in responding to all my questions. Chuck, one question I have for the appellant, and they can mention this when they come back for five minutes at the end, which is he mentioned something about his home address when he comes here, if you can include that in his closing remarks. I don't need that right now.

Okay.

Thank you. Yeah. Just one more question. This is for tentative parcel map. This is tentative parcel subdivision. So, the final map, we have to come to the city council for approval. Is that correct?

That's correct. But the as long as they have satisfied all the conditions of approval in the tentative map, the city council is required to approve it. So it comes before you. But your job is to look at the checklist and say, yes, they've done those things.

So, basically, at the time, it's a bridge design, fire accesses, geotech geotechnical studies, drainage, and all that has to be met, all those conditions, then it's going to come to the city council for final approval.

Some of those conditions are conditions for developing on the new parcels, and not for the final map.

So

the final map requires a certain number of things to be done. But, and Chris can correct me, but I don't believe that the bridge design is a requirement for the final map.

Yes. That that is correct. The bridge design is not required for the final map. It's just the final map comes back to the council and consent and has to be consistent with the tentative map.

So basically fire department has to approve the turnaround?

During construction.

During construction.

Right. Not during the final map. The final map doesn't show any improvements. It just shows the property lines.

Got it. Thank you.

We all good? Okay. Now it's time to open the public comment on this item. I wonder if I could get a show of hands of how many people will be speaking, just so I have a clue. Okay. And are there any folks online that are going to speak on this item? Anybody? If you wouldn't mind raising your virtual hands so we get an idea. Okay. So we'll go ahead with the public comment. And Britt, if you could explain that process for both our fans here at home, here in the audience and our fans at home.

If you would like to address the City Council on this item and you have not submitted a speaker slip, now is the time to do so. If you would like to address the city council and you're attending via Zoom, now is the time to raise your hand. Let's see. It looks like I have nine speaker slips. First speaker is Jerry Bruce. And then that will be followed by it looks like Zi Zing Zeng. And then Gay and Glenn Grant.

Thank you, City Council. I just want to say thank you to the Planning Commission for approving this I project think it's a well desired benefit for Saratoga to have two more parcels that we can put homes on. It doesn't prove homes will get built. It's just a tentative map. I haven't heard anything yet that would cause me to vote against the to vote for the appeal, but I encourage you to do what you need to do. I haven't lived here all my life. I moved here sixty two years ago to attend Fruitvale Elementary School, while it was still in existence, but I have invested a lot in Saratoga, and I look at this project as another good investment in Saratoga. Thank you.

Thanks.

Zizi? And if you could line up, that's why I've got to kind of, we'll get you queued up. Followed by Gaye and Glenn.

So we are probably the newest member of Saratoga City. We just moved in 2014, in fact. I heard many friends who are saying they have been living here more than ten years, twenty years, thirty years. We moved from West San Jose. The reason why we moved into this city is because we believe Saratoga has a superior environment.

So especially in our neighborhood, we like the environment, we want to protect the habitat there. Actually, Monday was the first time I travel a lot. You know, I travel internationally for work. So, Monday was the first time I actually walked through the area where the proposed development would happen in the future with city council and mayor. And I noticed the creek was in fact much deeper than I thought.

And the banks of the creek is very steep. You saw on the presentation, the average slope of that area is 8.37. I don't know if you guys remember, but I'm pretty sure the road leading to the creek is much steeper than 8.37 degree. So as a as a experienced mechanical engineer, a PhD in mechanical engineer, I'm pretty sure building a bridge that can handle heavy traffic, especially for the fire trucks, it's going to be a very big issue. And also, I don't understand why the Sequa was exempt before the city reviewed the whole, you know, subdivision plan.

I think a rigorous study on biological influence on soil, on hydraulic system, you know, environment impact should happen before that. And we want to see the reports of all those studies. Thank you.

Gay Grant. Glenn's going to speak later in the question part. First, City Council, thank you so much for coming Monday to this site. We appreciate it very much. Okay.

We purchased our home in 1977, almost fifty years ago. It's a unique, magical place with its wooded forest, amazing creek, and both a home and a corridor for an abundance of wildlife. Not your usual neighborhood, for sure. It has provided a family rural experience right here in the city. We have a creekside parcel that cannot be developed because it's deemed a floodplain, a Santa Clara Valley water district restriction.

The creek responds immediately when it rains, sometimes creating a raging creek. Our son and friend was young many years ago, actually rode rafts down it. We have experienced flooding on our property and even witnessed a large sycamore tree that had fallen in the creek, and later, when the floods came, the rains were pouring, it picked up that sycamore and sent it all the way to Crestbrook Bridge. It had passed 10 residential backyards. There have been several incidents of tree cuttings on the property, which seem to be piecemeal, the latest being about three weeks ago when two oaks were cut down and removed via the owner's sister's home, which is on Marybrook.

The trees in their root system can prevent soil erosion in times of excessive rain and flooding. Nine protected trees were listed on the proposal. But on the site visit, when asked what nine trees were being removed, the owner claimed no knowledge of what trees were to be removed nor where the residents would even be located. Does that mean the number nine is a guess and subject to change? The number is important as it again seems loosely given piecemeal.

Our biggest concern is the bridge, which since our first council meeting has which has been moved several feet, and now it's on a continuation of the Heritage Creek Court, which we saw at the site on Monday. However, the Santa Clara Valley Water District stated it's the only access to Saratoga Creek on the private property.

Thank you.

It's their easement.

Thanks, Gaye.

Which is also a continuation of Heritage Creek Court.

Gaye, we

thank There's conflict.

Thank you very much, Gaye.

Well Next is Ananya, followed by Julie, followed by Raj. And

again, if Britt has called your name, if you wouldn't mind starting

Coming on down.

So that we can. You're fine.

It's okay.

Hi everyone. Nice to see you guys again. My name again is Julie St. Gregory. I live on Veroni Court.

Oh, okay. Thank you. I'm here because, although we discussed this a little bit, because I thought that the approval of a subdivision was conditional on meeting all infrastructure and environmental compliance standards. And my understanding is that CEQA mandates the evaluations of geology, hydrology, and ecology of the property to be subdivided. However, your assessments and CEQA review appear to be segmented and incomplete.

And I say that to the staff here because the city's peer reviewer states that the developer must still evaluate lateral spreading and liquefaction to see if the bridge abutments are viable. If the city does not yet know if a bridge is physically viable at this location, how can the council find the subdivision consistent with the general plan tonight and to the developer? The peer review asked for an opinion on whether a shallow foundation is even visible for the residences due to lateral spreading. If a shallow foundation is not viable, what is the alternative? And has the environmental impact of that more intensive construction even been studied under CEQA?

The Saratoga Creek, which sits directly behind many of our houses, as you have heard tonight, is always in flux. It can rise rapidly and has and has. There was a tree big tree that fell, and it couldn't make it around the bend. And quickly, my house was completely flooded. And that was just a few years ago.

The subdivisions near water notoriously increased runoff via bulldozing to put in new sewer lines and drainage systems, and disrupting and eroding the creek banks. By constructing these big a big, huge heavy, heavy duty bridge, you have to drill into those banks, eroding them even further. So the question is, if the approval is granted for this subdivision before required studies and other due diligence are completed, myself and my neighbors are put at risk. And I would like to know if we have those damages and you guys have not done your due diligence, who is responsible for our damage and our cost? Is it the city of Saratoga?

CF6X is left. I just want to say that

Go ahead. You can tell.

I I would just like to say that you were talking about nine trees. The nine trees you're talking about are only what is planned for the fire department turnaround. There are dozens and dozens of other trees there I know, because of the placement of where those houses are going to be, are going to be wiped out. When you wipe out the trees, their root system holding the plane together. Thank

very much.

Thank you very much. Sorry I went over.

It happens.

For us neighbors it is very personal

I always do. Thank you.

Ananya? No, I'd like to have a bottle of wine.

I'm sorry. Okay.

Dear mayor, dear vice mayor, and all the dear city council members, my name is Bariti. I'm a resident of Baroni Court for almost sixteen years. We purchased our home because we fell in love with the beautiful Saratoga Creek and the untouched sanctuary. It is heartbreaking to see the development proposal in this lot. Today, beside my own representing, I am also reading out for my another neighbor, Mark and Linda, from Marybrook Drive, who couldn't attend because of a service for her mom.

This is Linda's letter. My husband and Mark moved to Marybrook Drive in Saratoga in 1978 for almost forty years ago. What we loved about our location and still do is that it backs up the Saratoga Creek as a wildlife corridor. It's not unusual for us to see deer just outside a fence. At the time the sound of frogs would keep us up at night, it is important for us to protect the wildlife corridor.

I am concerned that this subdivision could be approved before showing that the planned building will be able to meet the requirements of the city and other local planning organizations, which have special requirements for the creek as a wildlife corridor, valley water, fish and game, and protecting the creek from construction debris, dust and traffic. The creek has changed dramatically over the years. I understand that a lot has flooded in early nineties, and it came to six inch when she was residing there in nineteen seventies. Since that time, our section of the creek has deepened and widened due to erosion and debris due to fallen trees. Although we still see deer, we no longer hear the frogs, which are very sensitive to changes in water quality.

We are very concerned about the nine protected trees that will be cut down to make room for the bridge and fire turnaround. Before that construction occurs, we need to see what trees will be cut down and understand the impact on the creek stability and the canopy. New trees will not provide those same purposes, and it will take years before replacement trees support the creek bed in the same way. I expect the city of Saratoga to do everything possible to protect the creek area and to collect information relating to building and safety, such as providing fire protection to the area on the Marybrook Drive of the creek to determine the feasibility of building before approving the subdivision. Thank you, everyone, for listening, both from me and from Linda.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Ananya, followed by Raj, followed by Meera.

Hello, city council members. My name is Ananya Mukherjee. I live on 19009 And 78 Baroni Court. I've been in Saratoga for over seventeen years. My spouse is Bartho Mishra, who you just heard him speak.

I'll keep this very short and to the point. I think what we are what I'm concerned about is we want we live in Saratoga and we respect the nature and the rules of the city that it will live by. I don't believe that process is being followed here. And I'll give you three examples. The first example is when this plan was submitted last year, there was an implication that the Baroni Court was gonna be used for access to give access to this subdivision with the expectation or the understanding that essentially that the easement was in place.

We own Barony Court. We own the property that gives the road access to that place. We've the plan had been submitted to the city without any access rights being granted to them, and we were so surprised that this process went all this ahead without the applicant actually having access. So that's point number one. Number two was, you know, last year's about this time, about 17 trees were deemed to have been deemed dead and they had to be destroyed because they were deemed dead.

And it was apparently an issue for neighbors. We are neighbors of Barrode Court, we've lived there, we live next to those trees. We went and appealed this case to the city and because of the city's appeal process, the city heard us and the the death of those trees was kept on hold. I love trees. As you can see, everyone here loves that neighborhood. And because of that, that process essentially stopped. And so my the third concern was when we were walking down yesterday, I asked a very generic question. Hello. We are walking on this little bridge. Is this permitted?

I don't work in the city, I am an engineer, I we have busy lives. We want to make sure because we live in a flood pain, if something happens to that little bridge and there is the rains that happened last two weeks ago and as Julie mentioned, if there's a log that gets stuck and if there's flooding, who is liable for that? We are just worried about our risk. We are not against development. We all have kids. All our kids went to Saratoga. We all they all want to live here. But we want to make sure our neighborhood is protected and you as councilmen, have, we vote for you. So you need to make sure that whatever we are doing, we are doing for the whole good. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, so Vice Mayor, and then Brett, thanks for setting this up. Hard to follow after such passionate description from everyone. Raise this slightly.

I think the discussion here is mostly, as most of the people talked already, is the bridge. One, as just pointed out, we need to know the existing bridge. Is the city approved or it's not? That will be something we should know. The other thing that we would want to raise is that this private bridge is required as the main access if if this project goes on.

And and that as as one of them, as as one of my degrees, civil engineering is is also among my mine and I I personally supervise construction of bridges in a public sector. So making that as a trivial issue is not a good scenario. We should we would want to review all the designs and what kind of bridge it is. All those are critical. And then all of us are aware of on the Highway 9, the entire bridge is getting reconstructed by Caltrans.

And is the reason for that is the seismic structural concerns and and it's a public work project, so it's designed and and constructed and funded by the government. If something happens to this private bridge, does that mean Saratoga City pays for that or somebody else pays for it? And then in case that the SECWA, the environmental impacts are not considered at all, or may be considered later, then that will be a that does not appears to be a reasonable approach here. And then lastly, I'm looking at this time. Lastly, this is the area is in the flood zone, the one hundred year flood zone.

So all this has to be taken a lot more seriously than just ignoring it. Since I'm approaching my time, I don't want to cover the rest of the items. But thanks for consideration.

Thank you, Raj.

Good evening, Mayor Page, Ms. Wallia, council members and staff. My name is Myra, and I'm a resident of Veroni Court. I wanted to pose the following question about CEQA and environmental protection. This project relies on a class 15 CEQA exemption for minor land divisions. However, CEQA guidelines state exemptions do not apply if there are unusual circumstances. Doesn't a clear span bridge over a dynamic, seismically active creek requiring state and federal agency permitting constitute unusual circumstance? It's food for thought. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Next is Vega, followed by Hao.

Hello, Mayor Page, Vice Mayor Willia, and council members. My name is Vega. I'm also a resident of Boroni Court. And I have another question about CEQA and environmental protection. So by approving the map now and deferring the bridge design and habitat impact studies to the improvement phase of this project, is the city not segmenting the project in a way that bypasses the comprehensive environmental review required by law? Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Hello. My name is Hao Tian, and I live Marybrook. And I'm here to support the appeal. And because of this site, the neighbors have concerns about the property in the flood zone and the potential for flood and fire. And the CEQA exemption, my question is whether this special circumstance warrant the evaluation of the environmental impact for this subdivision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. That is the last of our in person speakers.

Do you have anybody else in house that wants

to I have no more speaker slips.

Well that's okay.

Okay.

That's I called you both up.

I know, but I said

Okay. Come on up. Come on.

That's okay. Come on. And if there's anyone else that would like to speak on this, please come forward.

Sorry for the confusion. I'm Glen Grant, Gay's other half. So my question is, Heritage Creek Court is the sole point of access for the new parcels. Has a physical auto turn or swept path analysis been performed using a modern Saratoga Fire District apparatus to ensure they can navigate the existing turns on Heritage Creek before they reach the proposed new bridge. And as an adjunct to that, when the bridge is built, who's going to maintain it in the long haul?

I'd like to see the public trust being on the hook for it, rather than a private party. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Glenn.

Okay. Do we have any other speakers before I go to remote?

Don't see anybody, Brett.

Okay. So we have one. Elizabeth. Elizabeth is short. Hi, good

evening. This is Matt Brady, actually. I'm Elizabeth's husband. Okay. And Everett's I'm better known as Everett's dad, who you guys all met on Monday. Just wanna say thank you all for the opportunity. Very grateful for my parents for, you know, going through this process to subdivide the land to stay in Saratoga, allow us to be able to have our homes futurely built here in the you know? So we really just appreciate your time and consideration. Thank you to my parents again, and hopefully, we can see everyone running around Saratoga for years to come. So just thank you all.

Thank you.

Okay. Mayor, I have no other hands raised.

Okay. So with that I'll close the public hearing. And the applicant can come up. And you have up to five minutes to present, refute, whatever your prerogative is.

City Council, my name is Mark Brady. My bride of thirty eight years is Michelle, and I are the property owners. I'm not going to get into the technical items. All of that has been presented to you in the papers before you. The agency's approvals, their comments, their conditions, as well as the Planning Commission's approval is well documented.

I'd like to thank Chris and Brian and Cindy from the Planning Department for helping us through this process so far. I'd like to thank Westfall engineers, Yitka and Carl, for all your experience and your expertise in putting all this down on paper for us. I'd like to thank the city council for taking time out of your busy schedule the other day to come and do a site visit. I'm glad you had the opportunity to see the beauty of our property, and I'm glad you had the opportunity to see the beauty of our family. And it's the love of our family that's driving us to keep going on down this process.

Living in Saratoga is a challenge. Building in Saratoga is a challenge, even on your own property. And what we're trying to do is help our kids with these challenges. My wife, my bride, tells me often that only I can control my heart and my attitude. And honestly, that has been a challenge lately.

Every morning, our kids send us pictures of our grandkids. So every morning, my heart and my attitude gets reset. Looking at their smiles, the joy, their innocence, they're not worried about what happened yesterday and what's going to happen tomorrow. Every day's a new adventure for them. You know, what am I going to hear today? What am I going to see today? What's going to be my next first? Am I going to take my first steps? Am I going to speak my first words? Am I going to roll over for the first time?

We ask that the city council deny this appeal so that Michelle and I can continue with this project. And hopefully soon we'll see our children building their first home, and be part of many, many more firsts with our grandchildren. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. And now the appellant can have five minutes.

Thank you, Mayor. So just to getting old and forget things. So just to get the question out of the way that the vice mayor asked, I live at 19978 Boroni Court. That's my address. That's why we've lived for the last eighteen years. So, excuse me. You know, I wanted to start out by saying appreciate the effort that the city council has put into this. You know, we sat here in the planning commission meeting, and I'm struck by how different it is in terms of the engagement. I mean, I'm looking at your eyes, and the attention, and the thoughtful questions, and the site visit. And you know, you kind of gave us time.

You see kind of the passion, the emotion, you know, on both sides, right? So what I wanted to say in the closing was, you know, there's a lot of emotion, a lot of heard my wife and Anya get emotional, you heard some of the other folks on both sides get emotional talking with their grandkids. The issue is not about emotion, the issue is about process and the law. We all moved to Saratoga, beautiful community, everything runs by the book. Was joking with Mayor Page before that I've never been here, never seen him, except for, of course, the elections.

Everything works like a charm. Right? So our concern is process, follow process. This project has been in development for more than two years now. How much effort can it take to spend another two months, three months, do a thorough environmental review? I'm not an attorney, I'm not an environmental expert. I heard the answer on the CEQA question, right? And it sounded to me, I have it up on my laptop, I can read it out, sounded like a very bureaucratic answer. Wasn't very convincing. Like, well, you know, this clause here, that clause there, that clause there.

And you know, we'll be back here in a year's time. We'll be back here in two years time. God forbid we build a bridge and it collapses. We'll all be back here. So all we are asking for is, let's do our analysis, whatever it is, Sequa, Santa Clara Valley District, California Fish and Wildlife, that's not, you know, look, we are not the experts, we depend on you to run the process, and the experts do their job, right?

So essentially, our concerns are the bridge over Saratoga Creek and fire access infrastructure remaining unresolved. It is very clear that those have been papered over. So these are not minor design details. These are fundamental feasibility questions. And until those questions are answered through proper engineering and environmental review, approving the subdivision creates unnecessary risk, and we don't understand, you know, we heard the emotional argument about we need to build houses there and so on.

We have no problem with that. Build the houses, just do the analysis first. Don't pretend that the houses will not be built, it's just a line on a map, just approve that. And then, down the road we'll do the analysis, right? Now, ignore all the deer, ignore the frogs, ignore all the sentimental stuff. Right? Saratoga Creek is one of the most sensitive natural corridors in the city. Building infrastructure in such environments requires careful analysis. For a variety of reasons, not just environmental reasons. There's like, you know, risk, there is financial impact and so forth, right?

So it feels to us that there's a little bit of a trust us, you know, the right thing will happen down the road. And, you know, our concern is that based on some of the things we've seen in the last two years, we don't feel like that process was followed. It's not the city, the city's been incredibly transparent and very easy to work with, right? But we just see things happening, and Anja gave the example about access rights. Baroni Court is part of our property, nineteen ninety seven eight. So all the easement needs to come from us. The entire project was worked for more than twelve months or thirteen months. Chris was kind enough to show us the proposals. It always showed everything, all the easement coming from Pironi Court. No one came to us, no one checked.

All that happened maybe twelve months, thirteen months into the process. So that makes us wonder, that seems backward. Maybe just check with us at the beginning and we would have said yes. That's a natural process. You know, have 10 neighbors who have easements in Boroni Court, and you know, it works great. So this appeal is not about stopping development, it's about making sure that the development provides, development proceeds responsibly and safely. My daughter went to Saratoga, she's 32, she wants a house in Saratoga, my son is 26, needs a house. We're all concerned about affordable housing. We're all in the same boat. But let's do things right, that's kind of our ask, it's a process question, it's not an emotion question.

And we don't have access to any resources, we've not hired anyone, right? You guys are the people who we are depending on, we elect you, and we are expecting you to enforce the rules of Saratoga for us. So I'll conclude on that note. And again, you know, respectfully ask the council to require a more thorough environmental analysis and study. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. So with that, I'll close the public comment period and open it back to counsel for discussion. And I know there may be a couple of outstanding questions. So we'll go with that. Anybody want to go first? Yeah.

Sure.

This question is probably for Chris. Can you please explain the process for any parcel subdivision in the city of Saratoga? What what is the process people have to follow for a subdivision in the city of Saratoga?

Yeah. They they submitted tentative map, which the applicant did submit. That that tentative map is reviewed by the city, well as city's, the fire department, the geologist, public works, the engineer. They they provide their comments. They go back to the applicant. The applicant responds to those comments, and they get map gets rerouted again. Once all the departments are satisfied that the map meets their standards, then staff schedules it for plan permission review.

So so the fire department does have to review the tentative map, and they they have to approve that before you bring to the planning commission.

That's correct.

Okay. So, there were, I read the report, but there somewhere said it's the final approval. It's going to come later. Is that correct?

Yeah, the final approval is part of the final map. Okay. And that comes back to the counsel on consent.

Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else? Tina?

Thank you. A couple of questions of staff. Firstly, thank you to all the residents for coming, speaking, the appellant, the applicant. And one question raised was an easement on Baroni Court. And some of these questions I'm asking because they have been asked by the public.

And I may already know the answers. So depending on Richard or Leslie or Chris, whoever wants to answer. The tentative map in front of the counsel, the application today, does not ask for any easement on Beroni Court, correct? So that is not a valid concern in the application we are looking at today.

That's correct. The map in front of you tonight does not include any easement in Beroni Court.

Thank you. Okay. And you just explained the process that we are following the process. Thank you. That was one of the questions raised. And the bridge design, the final bridge design, will be approved before any development happens?

That's correct.

And that will be approved by the correct authorities, including The

building department and the city engineer. That's correct.

Okay. Same goes for the fire department. There was a concern raised about the slope. I believe Zhijing pointed out the average slope at 8.37. And the fire department slope, if I remember my planning commission days, goes to about 14% or something.

I think what's important is the 8.37% is the average slope of the whole site. But department is looking forward to the slope of the turnaround itself, and the driveway, not the slope of the whole site.

And they have already considered that it seems feasible at this stage.

That's correct.

Okay. Wonderful. And the one last question. I am going to request Richard to please respond again. There were two young students, I believe, who pointed out their concerns or who expressed their concerns about the CEQA exemption about unusual circumstances? I know you responded to my question earlier. Can you just, so that I hope the audience understands.

Yes. The courts have said unusual circumstances are very unusual. And here, what we have is a bridge. And bridges are routinely built to connect adjoining parcels, they are subject to extensive regulation. And there's already a bridge on the site. So there's no evidence to suggest that this is an unusual circumstance with significant impacts.

Thank you. One last question, probably for Chris, I think. There was concern expressed at the site, including a few minutes ago, that the current bridge is not permitted or some concern expressed. Chris?

Yeah. I will leave that up to the applicant to respond. I'm not familiar with as it permitted or not. The applicant was asked that question at the site visit. He didn't respond. It was permitted.

Okay. I'll leave it to you, Chuck. You have closed the public comment period.

I believe what he said was that he went through all the necessary approvals. All the necessary approvals. So that's.

Correct. That's what I recall as well. Thank you.

Okay, Chris, before you go down, I have one more question. First of I want thank our future environmental law attorneys for asking their questions. My question is twofold. One, there was a question about Heritage Creek Court and its access. Are any easements required for this bridge? Who owns Heritage Creek Court?

Heritage Creek Court, that the street itself is owned by Cookie Fitzsimmons. That's her property.

Glad she's out there.

Right. And she so she has the the applicant has an easement over that.

To gain access to To

their access to their property. That's Okay.

So I think that the, does that bridge then become city property? Or is it a private road?

No. It's a private street.

Okay.

And the bridge itself is not on council member Fitzsimons property, but it's on the applicant's property. So it's the applicant's bridge.

And so the applicant would then be responsible for?

It's maintenance.

The maintenance. And when the state comes and does their inspections, that's who they go to?

That's correct.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, one other question. If the tentative map were approved, and then subsequently the map was final, and no building happens for quite some time, years for example, What would happen at some point in the future, there's a whole bunch of other people sitting on the planning commission, and sitting in the council, and probably in your department. And so somebody says, well gosh, these are two lots that I want to build on.

But maybe the rules have changed. How does that, how does it all affect? I mean can they, you know, somebody look at it and say, well there's a defined lot, so therefore they should be able to build on it. And you know, they've got a right to do that. Is that true? Or are there differences? Or are there considerations? They

do have a right to build on the sites. Because once they have a final map, they are legal parcels. So they have the right to build on them.

Okay. And they could actually probably build today if these were called ADUs, right?

Yeah, they could build ADUs on those sites today with, if they have access. That's correct.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks very much. Yes, Tina.

Chuck, thank you for asking that question. Chris?

I'm there.

Yes. No, seriously, this is, I wasn't sure. You responded to the mayor's question regarding Heritage Creek Court as a private street owned by Councilmember Fitzsimons, who has recused herself, and that the applicant has an easement over that with this proposal. Then you talked about a different or the same private street when you were responding to the question regarding the bridge. That's the part I'm not clear about.

It's the same street. Heritage Creek Court is the gains access to the project site. That's what Councilmember Fitzsimmons owns. Hopkins has the easement over that private street. But where bridge is going to be placed is where the easement ends. And that's where the property owner's property begins.

So bridge will be on the current property owner's property, the proposed bridge. And okay, thank you. Now I'm clear. Thank you so much.

Anything else?

Thank you, Chris. Thanks. Okay, counsel.

Okay. I have one more question. So there are two parcels. This is for Chris again. I guess you can't sit down yet.

Bless you. So the access to the two parcels are both through Heritage Creek Court. Is that correct? Or is one has to go through the bridge?

They are both through Heritage Creek Court, and they both are through the bridge.

So they have two access?

They have one access across the bridge.

Right. But then you can also go to the parcel through the Heritage Creek Court.

No. You to cross the You can access site property 1, the existing property.

That's right.

Peachtree Court. You have to cross the bridge to get For to process two and

the first, for the, I mean, for the current parcel, you can just access through the Saratoga Avenue? You cannot? So why do have to go through Heritage Creek?

Because as the appellant said, I think the answer is a Boroni Court. They don't have an easement over Boroni Court. They have easement over Heritage Creek Court. The only access to parcels two and three, legal access, is over Heritage Creek Court and the bridge over creek.

That's right. That's what I was asking. You have Heritage Creek Court as well as a bridge.

The bridge is at the end of

At the end. I understand. Yes. Okay.

Thank you.

So a bridge is an extension of Heritage Creek Court, not itself, but it's the same road over the creek.

Thank you.

Okay. Thanks, Chris. Now he won't get called up because he's sitting there. Okay counsel, here we go. Let's all jump in at once.

Go ahead, Palal, if you

I can jump in. These are always challenging situations, right, where we're trying to balance what is sort of the you you have property rights and then you have what is the community preference, which the Planning Commission and we as a city council oftentimes have to make decisions and adjudicate on. The perspective I'll provide that I think you've heard a lot of in the questions tonight, and just to give you a sense of my thinking here is, you know, there are certain processes that we establish as a city, and there are certain processes, and those processes which we establish are also then governed by state laws. Right? And so there's this tricky balance you have to find between what the state allows us to do.

So we can't do something that is banned by state law. And oftentimes the state even determines what processes we can and cannot follow. And so for example, CEQUA and the great questions that have been asked about here, in this specific situation, there have been state laws passed that make it so that CEQA does not apply for this specific situation, which is a tentative map, this subdivision of two additional parcels. And so there's been this question of process. What I will say is I believe that we as a city, in consultation with, you know, our expert staff and legal counsel, do everything we can to follow the process according to state law and our city ordinances, which is what I believe we are doing here.

Because today the decision we're making is for a tentative subdivision of this property tonight. So those state laws do dictate, for example, how CEQA can be applied. If this same application came forth five or ten years ago, this conversation would have been different. With that in mind, I heard, and I want to say thank you to everybody for coming out tonight. There was a perspective that was brought up about like trust us here.

We don't operate on that basis of trust us. There are a bunch of different regulatory government bodies here that make sure that whatever has been put in writing is actually followed. Whether it's the fire department mandating certain things, including following an inspection, whether it's Valley Water, whether it's federal or state authorities that are governing how creeks and water and wildlife should be managed. And so there are a number of government bodies that are involved here to do that. And what I will say is we have some exceptional staff.

And for example, Chris is a perfect example of that, who's getting some steps in tonight in terms of going back and forth. Chris and our planning department are experts at this. Then there are times where we rely on outside consultants to help us just because we have so many of these that come in at any point in time. But we review these sorts of things regularly. So we have professional staff with training that are regularly looking at these sorts of things and making decisions on that basis as well as following the process that we have within the city, within the context of state law. So nothing about this is trivial. Right? We take every element of this seriously. We take the safety of every resident in Saratoga very seriously. Right?

A bridge over a creek is something that is really important to get right for all of you in this room, the family included. Right? That that wants to potentially build you in the future. But to be clear, the decision tonight is not about that future perspective development, it's about this subdivision. And there are certain requirements around how we can approach that subdivision, and then there will be other requirements for how we approach that development in the future. I also just want to flag, these are challenging conversations for a neighborhood. Right? There's one property and all the it seems like a number of the neighbors around it are really unhappy about that. But there's this balance, right, between what the community wants, what the neighborhood wants, and what a property owner has the right to do. Right?

And so I also hope that this is You know, it seems like this might end up being a multi year process. I hope you as a neighborhood and community can come together. Right? Because that is really hard to do. This is a really challenging conversation. It's very emotional. We're talking about kids, grandkids. We're talking about safety. Right? These are really tense and hard things.

I just hope we can come together as a community there. To share my point of view, given all of this, is from the perspective of state and local law, Like, I believe we are following the process here, and so I'll be I will be supportive of denying the appeal. I haven't heard anything tonight that also gives us the ability to to take any other direction. The planning commission was also unanimous, which is also something that is quite persuasive to me as well. But, as always, open to any comments or persuasion from my fellow council members.

Thank you, Bilal. DeAnne?

Agree with a lot of what had been said by our council member, FTAP. I know a lot of our residents have concerns on requirement. I did too. Just to be transparent, I actually had a conversation phone conversation with our city attorney this afternoon on CEQA guidelines. So whether this one is category exempt, I want to understand.

And so he just explained to the public again, this land subdivision qualifies for the CEQA exemption. And we are following the state law. I know people are concerned with the process of subdivision. I I just asked Chris to explain to us, you know, if we have followed the process. The answer was affirmative.

So, I I understand a lot of people still have concerns about the the bridge design, the fire access, the geotechnical studies, and drainage. But this is a it's a tentative parcel map. And, currently, the question for us is whether this subdivision complies with our general plan, zoning, safety standards, and the required findings under state law. So far, I have not find you know, I mean, I I I'm able to make all the findings based on the the guidelines. But this is not the final map.

This is not final approval for the parcel map. So the applicant has to go through a lot to approve in term of the bridge design, fire access, and the studies, and meet all those conditions and to get any grading or building permits. So there's one more chance for you guys to speak one that they do have work on the final map approval. So, with that, I will be supporting the subdivision project and deny the appeal. Thank you.

Tina?

What we are seeing here today is the Saratoga community. I want to thank you all for being so concerned about your neighborhood, to take time out of your busy lives, to file an appeal, come to the site visit, come to the council meeting, and express what you feel. This is Saratoga. This is what we all love about. We are all residents of Saratoga.

It's a wonderful community. It is heartening to see people so concerned about the environment, the two young students here, and everyone else. We all love our environment. We all love our trees here. I am going to start by saying I agree with what has been said by my two colleagues, Councilmember Aftab and Councilmember Zhao.

Three of the four of us here have spent years on the Planning Commission. Somebody made a remark. You are listening very carefully. I'm not trying to exclude my colleague who didn't spend time on the Planning Commission. He served on the Traffic Safety Commission, which helps us a lot because that is an area I don't have an expertise in.

But back to the planning commission, I spent ten years on the planning commission. I probably went through, one time I was counting, maybe 600 site visits. I have seen in those ten years, plus the six years this is my sixth year on the council straight, at a stretch, since 2010, I have seen a lot of change happen in terms of the state law. So if somebody feels this CEQA exemption was not allowed, or if you hear from someone five years ago, eight years ago, something like this was not allowed. I'm just making reference.

I don't know five or eight years ago what the CEQA was, what the law said. That is where I turn to our city attorney, who I deeply trust and respect. He's been with the city thirty years or something now, or close to it?

More? No. A little over twenty five.

Okay, twenty five. Sorry, I over calculated. Twenty five years. Only twenty five years, Richard? You know Saratoga so well.

1990, 1999.

Doctor. 1999. Okay. I am trying to share with you that you realize we are all listening to you very seriously, and taking this very seriously. I deeply trust Richard for his judgment, for his legal judgment. I want to respond to three comments that were made by the appellant in his closing statement. Arthur, you said that your concern is, and what you're asking is, your issue is about the process and the law. That the development proceeds responsibly. That's what you want us to ensure. And the third thing you said was to enforce the rules of Saratoga, and to do things right, and to ignore the emotion.

I'm looking at it precisely like that. And I'm putting aside my emotion about what I feel about the environment. The process is being followed, as we have demonstrated multiple times. I have twice asked the same questions of her attorney. I typically would not put him through that.

That is so that I can express to you that I am listening. And hopefully you can follow what he has expressed. So we are following the process. The development will happen later on after it follows the process of approval for the development. That set of application, that set of requirements, that set of findings, when the design approval happens, is different.

Right now the staff report has tentative map findings, which are actually written strangely, but not really strangely, in a reverse manner. It says the city council shall not approve any tentative map if the council finds the proposal supports any of the following nine findings, which is staff has therefore provided evidence that does not support any of the findings for denial. There's a reason for it to be written like that, because this is the stage to figure out, can these parcels be viable down the road, with the requirements to be met at that stage? One other point I want to make, as my colleague, Afthab, said, Council Member Afthab pointed out that the state laws define what we can, as a council, have in our ordinances. And that's the process we are following.

So again, to close my comments, I agree with the staff report. This project application meets the requirements for a tentative map approval. And therefore, I am unable appeal to deny that tentative map approval. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you. I don't think there's much I can add, except I know that Mr. Brady, when he spoke, he talked about some of the challenges in Saratoga. Building is a challenge, etcetera. The one thing that he left out was that change in Saratoga is a challenge. And it's a challenge to every single one of us, whether you live in the neighborhood or you don't live in the neighborhood. If you know the neighborhood, you know a neighbor. It's a very difficult thing. And the state has put some rules in place that we have to abide by, which frankly stink. And they're not something we want to partake in.

We used to be able to control our land use a lot better. We cannot anymore. And it's very, very frustrating. And it's frustrating to the neighbors. It's frustrating to the applicants, the things that you can and can't do. I would love to put a bunch of qualifications in this. But when I read through the actual wording of the tentative map, which will become the final map when certain conditions are met, The thing is that one of the things I'd like to do is to put in a qualifier that nothing gets done. And to make it explicit for everyone. Because I think there are some things that are implicit. Like, for example, that no trees can be removed until there's an actual building plan to remove them.

Like, and I know that no building can begin on homes until they're approved, and until a bridge is built. So there's a whole bunch of things that have to happen before that. Since I do believe that the process has been followed, and I know that our knowledge is limited by what we have actually learned up to this point. And at any given point in time, things change. And the state has done a lot of that over the recent years.

And it's really affected our ability to both understand as individuals, not as the city or the attorneys. But as individuals that live here, what are they doing to us now? And it's very, very frustrating. And I empathize with everyone that came up and you know, is against the tentative map approval. But unfortunately, I can't find for the appellant. Because what I see here does, I can make the findings that the tentative map should be approved. So I will also be denying the appeal and supporting the tentative map. So do we have a motion?

I'll move to deny the appeal.

I can second that, Chuck. I have a question for you.

Well now we have time for some discussion. Okay. Go

Thank you. You suggested that we could possibly consider adding a qualifier that no trees are to be removed versus just keeping it an implicit thing. Is that something you would suggest we add?

Richard, is that something that needs that could be put in as a qualifier, just to make it clear? So one of the questions, one of the concerns, and I hear it in multiple facets, no one knows which trees are gonna be, of the nine trees that are gonna be removed if the turnout is built. So to put a qualifier in there that says no trees can be removed from the site until such time as the building is approved, the next phase essentially.

And it's my understanding Chris can address that.

Yes, thank you so much. Yes, the condition from the arborist is no trees can be removed until the building permits are ready for issuance.

Okay.

That's already in there.

That's what I thought. So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. So we have a motion. And Tina, you seconded it. So we have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? So with that, the motion to, the appeal is denied. And the applicant can go forward. And thank you all very, very much for coming, especially the young people. I know that might be a little stressful. Actually probably for your parents more than you. But thank you all very much. We really appreciate your comments and appreciate the time that you spent to come forward and let us know. Thank you. So it's about ten of nine. Would you all mind if we took a ten minute break? I need a little bit. Thank you.

So we'll be back at 09:00. Alright. If we could bring the council back at some point.

That's a great it's a welcome interruption. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Blow it out.

Yeah. It's like get you know.

All right. So where are we here? All right. Next up, we come to general business items. And so Item 3.1 is our Community Event and Street Closure Grant Program for fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven and our Community Event Grant Program policy. Hi, Jocelyn. I guess you're going to provide our staff report.

Hello. Good evening, Mayor Page, Vice Mayor of WALIA, and council members. My name is Jocelyn Bennett, and I'm your admin analyst here in the city manager's office. Tonight's item is about the overall community event grant, street closure grant program, and obtaining council approval for fiscal year twenty twenty six, six-twenty seven funding allocations and policy clarifications for the Competitive Event Grant Program. The Community Event Grant Program was originally established in fiscal year twenty thirteen-fourteen support volunteer led community events that foster community connection and civic engagement in Saratoga.

The program has two primary components. The first is secured funding, which supports longstanding community events that occur annually. This represents phase one of the process. Applications for secured grant funding opened in December 2025 and ended in January 2026. And the proposed requested allocations for fiscal year 2020 and 2027 are reflected in the staff report.

The second component is a competitive grant program, which allows community organizations to apply for smaller grants to support new or additional community events. This represents phase two of the process. Tonight, staff is bringing minor policy clarifications which address further clarifications on not organized for profit. Once this policy is updated, the competitive application process to open in March, which grants requests typically coming back to counsel for consideration in May. At that time, you will hear from applicants to decide requested allocations.

For fiscal year twenty twenty six-twenty seven, staff is recommending a total program funding amount of $97,500 This includes $59,500 for secured community of grant funding, 30,000 for street closure support, and 8,000 for competitive grant funding. This represents $6,140 increase from the current fiscal year, which is driven by a few targeted adjustments. The primary changes include a $10,000 increase requested by the Chamber of Commerce to support events such as Saratoga Nights, the car show, and Candy Cane Village. The request is intended to support operational improvements, including purchases of portable stage equipment that can be used across multiple events in the future years. A $500 increase is requested by the Saratoga Village Development Council due to rising operational costs associated with hosting downtown community events.

An $840 increase to the competitive grant program to allow for additional community proposals. At the same time, there is also a reduction in funding requests, as the Hakone Foundation has indicated it will not require a $5,200 allocation this year, due to internal capacity restraints, though they anticipate returning to the program in the future. In terms of policy, staff is recommending minor updates to the competitive event grant program policy, to clarify eligibility requirements. These updates respond to questions raised during the previous application cycle and provide clearer language regarding an organization's profit status, as well as clarifying that fundraising activities are not permitted as part as grant funded events. Recognizing that budget constraints are top of mind, staff has also included Attachment C as a desk item, which provides a ten year historical overview of the program and funding trends.

That data shows that, while some events have expanded over time, many have remained relatively stable in their funding levels, which increases generally reflecting growth in event scope, attendance, or inflation pressures. Thank you. I'm happy to answer questions.

Do we have any questions of staff? Anybody? Okay, Tina's got a question. You're not off that easy.

Jocelyn, thank you for your work and thank you for the staff report. So you explained the process that you got applications in December 2025.

Applications opened for the secure grant in 2025, and were due January year.

Okay. So is the counsel seeing all of this together? Correct. Okay. And thank you for calling out in the staff report the additional requests for the secured funding increases, which are the three that you pointed out.

One addition of $10,000 for the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and $500 for the Saratoga Village Development Council, as well as the reduction for Haconi Foundation for $5,200 So is the Haconi Foundation saying they permanently want to seize that?

This is temporary, as they work on getting capacity to just work on cultural events in the future.

So they are only foregoing that for this year? Next year, they will be back?

Correct, depending on capacity.

Okay. Okay. So we can assume they will be back next year?

Yes, correct.

Okay. I want to thank you very much for the table. I know I had asked for detailed information of the acting city manager two days ago. And I got that around 03:15 this afternoon. I'm trying to find that table somewhere here. I haven't had time to review it closely. So can you point out the percentage increases, the big ones, since you tracked the last ten years? Can you point that out? Because I'm not sure if the members of the public or everyone else has had an opportunity to review that yet.

Yeah, of course. So from 2015 to the present, percentage increases throughout the years is Chamber Festivals, 775% Blossom Festival, nine percent Saratoga Community Band, 38% Hakone, 12% Memorial Day event, 0% Fourth of July event, 69% Sassy Hellfare, 0% Silicon Valley District, 500% and then Car Show, 650%. And Martin Luther King, Jr, 150%.

Okay. So Saratoga Village Development Council, I think that's SVDC. Yes. Thank you. 500%. So that's what's the dollar amount for that in the last ten years? Where has it gone from?

Looking at the dollar amount. So the chamber started at $4,000 and is now at $35,000 The Blossom Festival started at $4,600 and is now at $500 Saratoga Community Band started at $725 and is now at $1,000 Hakone's first grant started at $4,630 and is today, based on their withdrawal, zero. Memorial Day is at $1,000 and is currently still $1,000 Fourth of July started at $2,670 and is now at $4,500 SASE started at $5,000 and is currently at $5,000 Saratoga Village Development Council events is at $500 and is now at $3,000 for the proposed request. The car show started at 4,000 and is now at 30,000. And Martin Luther King, Jr.

Started at 2,000 and is now at 5,000.

Okay. So the Chamber of Commerce and the Car Show were 4,000 each ten years ago. And last year's approved for the chamber was 25,000, which was an increase of 10,000 from the prior year. So in twenty four-twenty five, they were at 15,000, which this council approved. And twenty five-twenty six, they increased from 15,000 to 25,000.

And so now they are requesting another 10,000 increase. Correct. Okay. And the car show has gotten, in the last few years also, 2324. They were at 22,000, and they are at 30,000. They've gone from there, 22 to 25 to 30,000. Whereas the Saratoga Village Development Council has increased from 500 to 3,000. I just want to make sure, because percentages are important, but at the same time, the absolute dollar amount is also important. So that's an increase of only 2,500 in a span of ten years. Right?

Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Bilal, I had a question about the updated policy. Yes. And the updated language that's added is basically to the organization may not be one organized for profit. And so for example, let's say there's a restaurant owner up next to Pete's and they want to do a community event there, would they not be eligible for this then because they are an organization for profit?

Good question. We did leave that one a little vague. So that's something that counsel can discuss.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody

else? Gina?

Yeah. There was one thing in the policy that was puzzling to me also. On Page one, program requirements, the bottom, E small e, it says grant funds may not be used to support events or activities that include fundraising, solicitation of donations or revenue generating efforts? A revenue generating effort, kind of in line with the question asked by my colleague. Can you help me understand that?

I'm going to defer to our city attorney.

So there was a discussion earlier of counsel of wanting to make sure that these grant programs are going to activities that are not fundraisers. And so this is our effort to make that. So we didn't want to make we didn't want to say only nonprofit organizations, because it's actually a lot of work to get yourself registered as a nonprofit organization. And there are a lot of unincorporated community associations that do things. And that's much easier.

So that's to Councilmember Aftab's question. And then we wrote it very broadly so that to say and again, this is something for counsel discussion. But as drafted, what it says is that if you are receiving grant funds, you're not going to be doing any fundraising as part of this event.

I see. My concern was my concern was about how I was reading this, clearly, likely not following this part. We have, for a very long time, supported the work done by the Chamber of Commerce so that our businesses can benefit. I mean, clearly we are giving already we are giving, what, dollars 25,000 to the miscellaneous chamber events and $30,000 for the car show. Those result in revenue generation for our businesses.

So that's $55,000 in the current year we are giving. So that's revenue generating for the businesses.

So we could clarify if I wouldn't think of that as I think the chamber is not generating revenue for the chamber. Yes, if there is increased foot traffic in the village, that helps businesses in the village. So, if there's a concern that that would be considered revenue generating, we can say this does not include ancillary revenue indirectly associated with the event, or something like that. Again, if counsel gives us direction, we can work with it. This is just a proposal for counsel discussion.

Okay. But at the same time, I'm still in questions. So at the same time, those events that the chamber hosts, revenue generating is one part. So if they can't, can they get sponsorships or raise funds from different means to support those events?

So I think that getting funds to support the event is no problem.

Okay.

Again, I really want to be clear. Staff put wording in for counsel to discuss, so there is no legal requirement that you do it this way. Okay. But my interpretation, if somebody came to me six months after you adopted this policy and said, does this mean we can't have sponsorships? I would say if the sponsorship is 100% used for the event, it's fine. If the sponsorship is 95% used for the event and 5% used for the general fund, then it is not fine. That would be my answer to the question.

Okay. Thank you.

So

my question is, in the past, you know, when chamber hosts events, they can sell tickets, Right? And so, to this policy, they're they're not supposed to sell tickets, it's only for vendors in the business to get the benefits directly. But if you're saying, if chamber sells the tickets directly, it doesn't really meet our policy specific

Unless the chamber demonstrates that the tickets are simply to cover the cost of the event, That none of the revenues are going to the chamber.

Do we normally, I mean, do we get the reports from chamber about Well, saying

this is a brand new policy.

Okay. I just want to kind

of curious

about. These are all great questions.

Okay. Thank you. Another question I have. I'm just looking at the percentage of what the chamber is getting, you know, in the past year. So, basically, it's about $55,000 for car show as well as secured community grant, which is about 74% of the total community secured community event grant.

And so for this year, and they are asking for $10,000 more. I know this is for the benefits of community, but this is actually is they're trying to building let's see what is used for, to purchasing portable stage system, including portable steps. Is this something I want to kind of just share this with with our council, is this something that we want to do or is this something should be covered by, you know, like chambers with different means of getting on the fund for stage or even city. I mean, I I don't think city should purchase, but, you know, is it should be some other ways if it is benefits businesses in the downtown should be should we ask, you know, chamber or businesses in the downtown to perhaps chip in and then we look at how much that city needs to fund, then we can look at that way instead of cities gonna be the one help purchasing all the systems for Saratoga Knights. So this is just kind of my question out there.

Okay. I have a question for Jocelyn. And it's not a problem if you don't know the answer. We heard questions about how much money different groups are getting more than they used to, about percentages of increase. Do we know what caused those increases? Because I do if you

don't. That's a good question. And I currently do not.

That's okay. You haven't been here that long. There's not, you know, historical knowledge is not something that is written down. I completely understand that.

I'd like to learn.

So one of the things that happened was that we had different budgets for, for example, road closure and sheriff services and different things like that. So when the chamber got $4,000 for the car show, or whatever it was, those things weren't included. At one point, we decided to move them into this count it all together. So we had one place where it was all totaled. So certain things that had to be done, and the city was paying for that already, it was moved into this bucket.

So that's one of the reasons. So just so you know. So that was purely just a reallocation of what account it was associated with. You know, it probably went up because the cost of, you know, whatever permit you need with Caltrans and getting the right people involved from the sheriff's department or whoever's needed. There was probably an increase in cost.

So there's definitely an increase in cost. But I would suggest that the majority, if not all of that increase, was totally related to the expense that we incurred every year. Just moved it into a different bucket so that it would all be together. So it probably wasn't the increase that's shown here, the 775% or whatever it was. It was probably something much more modest.

The other question would be, were there additional events that caused this increase? And for example, last year the chamber took on, sponsored the Saratoga Nights, the first Thursday of each month having an event downtown, demands from the community. And they took the lead on that. And the city helped them to do that. So that was the other part. So that was the big increase last year. And so that's, so now you know the rest of the story. All right. So any other questions? Okay.

So at this point I'd like to thank you very much Jocelyn. Appreciate it. And so at this point I'd like to open the public comment period and ask anyone who'd like to come up and speak on this item. We'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions and suggestions for that matter. So if anyone would like to speak, Britt, would you please announce the process and call up our first speaker.

If you would like to address the City Council on this item and you have not submitted a speaker slip, now is the time to do so. If you're attending the meeting via Zoom, now is the time to raise your hand. I have one speaker slip, Bill Dalton.

Do I have the mic on? Yes. Okay. Good evening, mayor and council members. Given the city's, current budget situation, I'm surprised to see staff proposing any increase at all.

Okay. I'll review what's been proposed. The increase in total funding is really more than the quoted $6,000 because that doesn't take into effect the fact that Oconee's not getting any funding this coming year. So the real increase for the existing projects, going forward, is over $10,000 which is almost 14%. The chamber is asking for an increase of 40% of funding.

The three year increase for total funding is 58%. The chamber's three year increase is, what, 133%. The ten year increase is 775%. It's my position that the council needs to reduce the funding to no more than 86,160, which is the current year funding minus the 5,200 that Haconi is getting for this year. As to suggestions, for example, do we need a health care fair every five years excuse me, every year?

I propose make it every five years, You know, should we be funding the purchase of a stage? And where would that, for example, be stored? Regarding the proposed policy, it looked good to me. However, hearing the discussion about fundraising, I'm not 100 sure. I do have two suggestions regarding the policy.

We're proposing giving about $98,000 to various organizations next year to spend. The taxpayers, in the interest of transparency, should be able to see how this money is actually spent. Therefore, my proposal is that each year when events apply for new funding, okay, the receipts for their current expenses are part of the staff report. So, and this would apply to the secured events as well. So next year, when we evaluate applications for the following year, we'll see the receipts for what was spent in 'twenty six, 'twenty seven.

Regarding funding, I'm not if vendors are charged for selling at the event, I don't know whether that constitutes fundraising or not.

Thank you, Bill.

Thank you.

Next is Jim.

Thank you for the opportunity to address you. I'm going to speak quickly because I have three minutes and I have a lot to cover. I'm Jim Cargill, representing the chamber. Thank you for the time to be here. There's a lot of discussion about what the chamber is asking for, and it sounds like a lot of money, and it's not lost on us.

We are, as an organization, struggling to make to keep up with all of the increases of prices for putting on these events. We are aggressively trying to promote the downtown core and really revive that. The car show, several wine strolls, the Candy Cane Village and Saratoga Nights, really trying to encapsulate the entire year. Obviously, not the weather, the deep winter months, but sometimes during the fall wine stroll, it's cold. But those events really bring out the people of the community.

And with Saratoga Nights in particular, we have kind of a re envisioned plan for this year. And that's more of a cultural and art celebration style of events to celebrate the diversity in Saratoga, bring out groups to really bring out the heritage and diversity that we have culturally and really kind of bring that to the community and bring those community members out together, let people learn and get together as neighbors and, frankly, celebrate that. And so that's something we're very excited about. And a couple of things have come up about this stage. This is one idea one need that we had last year.

We didn't have one. It was an awkward part of it. We really honestly don't want to own that. We don't want to buy that. We would love in kind of conversations, and this is very fluid with the city.

Our idea would have been if we are able to get this, we would love for the city to kind of own it, you know, and monitor it and be able to use it at the fourth of July events, different civic events. If others need this, we need it seven days out of the year. There's three fifty eight other days that could be used for other community groups. And so I love that that was brought up, and I think it's a very salient point that, you know, possibly that's something that, as a capital expenditure, the city could purchase and, you know, be able to use it for many groups. It was just one idea of something we could do.

I'm going to ask for just a little bit more time, because there was a $30,000 got thrown into the conversation that the chamber is asking for $55,000 So it was $25 and then somehow $30,000 got into it. I'd love for you to ask for clarification from the staff, because it's, I'm not sure where those numbers got. Last year we asked for $25,000 The additional 10,000 doesn't even come close to the $66,000 that is we're doing we're using to put on these events. So if there's any follow-up questions, I'd be happy to answer them, especially on the accounting. You know, I could give a little more information to maybe help that question out of how we do the accounting and account for that in fundraising.

Thank you, Jim.

I'll step back.

Mayor, I have no other speaker slips, and there are no hands raised.

Okay. So we'll close the public comment period and bring it back to counsel for discussion and motions. Don't everybody motion at once? It's gonna be a loco motion. Okay, Tina has a question of staff.

So Bill brought up a point in terms of the transparency. This is taxpayer money. And counsel has been thrilled to support the community events for ten plus years. I personally this is my sixth year. And I have supported all the increases predominantly by one group.

But whatever other changes have come in, have been more than happy to support that. So I don't see anything in the staff report in terms of any details. No organization is representing exactly what they're going to do, because it's not me. It is the taxpayer's money that we are going to say yes to, whatever that amount is for whichever organization. Bill's words were that receipts be a part of the staff report.

So how do you handle what you received last year? Jocelyn, you have not been here that long. Maybe Leslie can help us understand. What has been the process?

Just for clarification, I wanted to make sure Bill mentioned I think in the policy possibly.

I understand. I am asking you about the last year. Yes. That because we don't have visibility as counsel to anything and because this is taxpayer money we are talking of, so perhaps this is the time for us to share with the public how do you approve? What do you recall, if anything? Because I have zero visibility for anything.

Sure. What the process is, is on the website when folks receive their secured and their competitive grant, they have to submit their receipts online. And then we have all that documentation. And what we do is we submit it into finance. And we look at the receipts.

So, for example, things that are not covered, use of alcohol, things like that. We make sure that they're valid receipts for the appropriate purchase for the program. We submit it to finance and then we track it on the spreadsheet as to making sure that they're staying within their budget. Staff is absolutely happy to in moving forward in the future with this program. This has never been done with previous staff reports.

But we are more than happy to share kind of a high level summary. You know, one of the things of, you know, what you know, let's just say hypothetically somebody received a $10,000 grant. You know, we can I don't know if you'd want to see every single line item? Happy to do that. But we could also do something that of do it in buckets to say this is what a majority of that $10,000 was spent on. We can provide supporting receipts. We have all that in finance and more than happy to be transparent with it.

I had actually asked you precisely that two days ago. And I was hoping to get that information today. Because there's nothing here that makes me feel very uncomfortable.

We do have some information. We have bucket information. We didn't want to we simply don't have the we didn't have the time to pull up for every single group that has received it for the last year. There just simply was a time you and I met in the afternoon Tuesday afternoon.

Monday afternoon. Yeah,

Monday sorry, Monday afternoon and had the site visit. And so yesterday they were working on that and they were working on these numbers for this for the overall for every single program to give you that spreadsheet to get it into the revised agenda for today. But individually, all last year's, we are working on that. We do have the information. In fact, we do have some bucketed information as it relates to our largest expense, I think, with the Chamber Car Show. Or you might have that on hand. But we don't have every single organization that has received that. So we are working on that. But it just is going to take a little bit more time than a day.

Could you share what you have, some high level of the larger contributions?

Yeah, of course. So for the CAR Show, from what we have for the current fiscal year, which has not ended yet, so I just want to make that point, They were allotted that $30,000 as in that. They have about, for the traffic safety signs, it has been reimbursed to them, about $9,000 In terms of road closure, it's about $7,000 and then insurance at about $3,000

So that's $19,000 not $30,000

Okay. We have $9,932.5 $17,404 and then $2,604.96 So it comes out to $27,336.5

I apologize. Maybe I heard seven when you said 17, the Completely road okay. Is that what you said, road closure is 17?

Yep, road closure is 17.

I heard seven. I apologize. Okay. Anything else that you have?

That is what I pulled for today. But I can obviously continue pulling more.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Many go ahead. Yeah.

One more question. This is more a policy question. I know the community grant is for the benefits of our community. And we are here to help, but not to subsidize any event I see. I think it will be good if we can have a total cost of the event. And what's the percentage of the shall we ask in the future in the application? Let's see what's the total cost and what they're asking for. I feel like we need to give a percentage that we're not going to give them 100% of what this cost of organizing a community event. Maybe we should discuss. I don't know.

Right now, I don't see that in our community grant policy. Perhaps this is something I just want to ask our city attorney, is this something I guess this is within our purview to define the policy.

PETER Are you asking for both the secured event grant and the competitive, or Can just the

we do both? That's what I'm asking.